


Lovesick, lust-filled

by shadowweaver



Category: Naruto
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blow Jobs, Coming of Age, Crushes, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gay Male Character, Hentai, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Parent-Child Relationship, Party, Possessive Behavior, Psychological Trauma, Rape/Non-con Elements, Revenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 05:51:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7210529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowweaver/pseuds/shadowweaver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boys will be boys, isn't that what they say? {All main characters are male, this story will be only M/M and tags will be added as time goes into}</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Week one

**Author's Note:**

> So, here's a new story that's going to basically porn with a plot. All of the characters are male, women are just rare in this world, so men are able to procreate. That means there's going to be mpreg, potentially! If you guys have any suggestions on what you want to see, feel free to let me know!
> 
> Also, the art is not mine! It's just to let you know how some of the genderbent characters look.

 

Ino was calm and collected--I think that's why our friendship worked. According to our principal--and one of my best friends--I had a temper that most liked to steer clear of. I like to think I was generally calmer than my dad, though. Man, that guy could scream. 

Like he was doing right now.

“Are you two fucking stupid?!” He jabbed my chest and backed me into the wall. “Do you have any idea how bad this looks?”

“Chill out, Mr. S,” Ino sighed and rolled his eyes. “We weren't caught. Your precious baby is still squeaky clean.”

I winced and looked away. Thanks, dad. You're making me look like an idiot in front of him.

“You don't get to speak!” My dad shouted in Ino’s face and the younger boy kept smiling. I didn't know whether to call him bold or insane. My dad was a pissy man, so people usually tiptoe around him. But Ino was always the one to challenge him. My dad narrowed his eyes and stepped into him. “I want you to go upstairs while I call your parents. You too, Sakura.”

I swallowed and pushed Ino towards the stairs, knowing he would have had something smart to say to my dad otherwise.

But my dad had to know that Ino’s parents were just as lazy as he was. Well--his mom was, at least. She let him do whatever he liked for most of his life while his dad was deployed overseas. She was the one who was home now.

“I'll take the fall,” Ino shrugged as we walked into my room.

I shut the door and locked it. “Are you insane? You committed a murder by yourself?”

“It was just a dog,” he rolled his eyes. “Shouldn't be more than a couple fines and a slap on the wrist.” He let his body drop to my bed and picked up a book off my night stand.

“My dad seems pissed enough to fit the crime with the punishment.”

“That's because your dad is a pedophilic asshole,” he said bitterly. “I see the way he looks at you.”

“You need to stop saying that.”

“I'm just saying--why else would a single man--a sketchy gambler--adopt a little boy out of the blue?” I hated when he talked like this. As cool as he was, Ino was filled with conspiracy theories and myths that never quite lined up. I'd learned to just nod my head at most of them but then times like these would roll around where I'd be his subject. I was adopted eight years ago, some time around my seventh birthday, by Tsunade Senju. I remember our first meeting consisted of him watching me toss a ball to two other boys. We didn't exchange any real words. I was just told I was being adopted, so I didn't see much room for complaints.

He gambles and drinks a lot. And his temper can turn him into a loose cannon. But he's my family now. I like to think I've grown to love him, too.

“Let's leave.” Ino set down my book.

“Where would we go?” Not that I was considering it. If dad told me to stay here, I'd remain in this room.

“I promised Neji I'd take him out later,” he shrugged, smirking. “Finally got him to agree to a date--the only catch is that he needs a date for his friend, too.”

What? Ino was asking me to sneak out and risk a broken neck over a guy? To hell with that.

“I'll pass.”

“Come on, Sakura--you've never been on a date before. Don't you think it's about time?”

“I'll date when I want to.” I meant that. But that didn't mean I didn't want to right now. Honestly, a boyfriend or girlfriend would be nice right now. 

“Maybe you'll hit it off with that guy.” Ino's tone clued me in on just how badly he wanted this. Neji Hyuga was an upperclassman and Sasuke Uchiha’s ex fuck buddy. Ino's been after Neji since we entered high school as freshmen last year.

I sighed. Could I really deny him this? “Fine.”

“Thanks, dude!” He exclaimed but there was a sharp bang on the door that made us both flinch.

“Open this damn door!” His words were slightly slurred and as soon as I opened the door, he pushed his way in. “What did I say about locked doors around here?”

“Sorry, dad.”

“And you.” He pointed a finger at Ino. “Your mom didn't answer. Guess you're sleeping here for the night.”

“You try anything and I'll call the cops.”

My dad grinned at that, taking it as a challenge. He had a messy relationship with police around here. They were his childhood friends--there was one point where they were all committing crimes together. But my dad seems to be the only one stuck in that phase. 

“You're under my roof, boy,” he growled. “We'll keep what happened tonight between us, but you two better shape up.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I understand.”

“Whatever,” was the best he'd get from Ino. My dad looked between the two of us and his eyes softened when we made eye contact.

“Look, I'm going out tonight. Here's forty dollars for food.” That's just how fast my dad’s temper changed. He reached into his pocket and put the money in my hand. Wherever he was going must have been pretty good.

When he left the room, Ino took half the money from me.

“I'm telling you, that guy isn't right in the head,” he said. “Now, I'll text Neji. And...wear something a little nicer than--that?”

 

Ino lit his cigarette and leaned back on the jungle gym. He was in the zone tonight, in terms of giving off vibes. Neji was leaning into him so closely that his lips grazed the other’s neck once or twice. 

They looked like they wanted to straight up make out, but I knew what was stopping Ino--the fact that I was right here. He got weird when it came to doing those types of things with other people when I was around. I noticed it around the time he first started dating when we were eleven. I'd steal a kiss from his boyfriend when I wasn't looking or twist his hand away from theirs whenever I approached. Did I give off some sort of jealous vibe? I'd say I don't see it, but that reminds me too much of the discussion about my irritability. 

“You want to pick up a pizza on our way back?” He asked me.

“The date just started and you're talking about leaving already?” I smirked.

“Don't worry, there's a lot I've gotta get done before we leave,” he winked at me and then moved his eyes over to Neji. 

I looked at my date, Naruto. I didn't even know Neji was friends with this kid. He was in my and Ino's grade and up until this year, he'd kinda been the school loser. I don't know what it was about him, but the bullies were hungry like wolves around him. Then he started hanging out Neji and Sasuke over the summer and gained some muscle. Instead of trying to beat him up, a few guys offered to take him on a date.

“You guys want some beer?” Ino asked. “I stole a few from Tsunade on my way out.”

He reached for his bag and I caught his arm.

“He'll kill us if he notices they're missing.”

“Don't worry, I'll replace it tonight. Neji's older brother has a fake, so he'll be able to get more. Just needed something to hold us over until then.”

If Hinata was going to help us buy more, drinking one right now shouldn't make a difference. I opened my can along with the others and we started downing the cans.

Ino was the first to finish. The right of us had to stop once or twice to catch our breath or keep from throwing up. Ino did this sort of thing at least every week so his stomach was pretty much made of steel in this regard. Naruto finished second and Neji finished third. 

I felt a hand trail up my back and run through my hair. When I finished, I crushed the can.

“Nice touch, champ,” Ino chuckled.

“Shut up,” I nudged him. “So, when do we meet up with Hinata?”

Hinata was nineteen, I think. He was going to the college in town, so he has an apartment nearby. Back in high school, he was pretty well known just because he was attractive. Soft eyes, long hair, and a gentle voice made for quite the man. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was attracted to him at one point.

“He gets off work in twenty minutes,” Neji said. 

“I'm hungry,” Naruto groaned suddenly. “I vote we get dinner now instead of later.”

“Quit thinking about your appetite for once,” Neji growled. “If you want food, go get it yourself.”

“But the nearest place is two streets over.”

“Shouldn't take you too long to walk,” Ino spoke up. “Hey, why don't you take Sakura with you? He's strong.”

“I don't know if that's a good idea.” I tried not to sound too bothered. It was obvious they were just trying to get rid of us. He couldn't grope her if I was around to watch.

“We'll be right here when you get back,” Neji spoke a disgustingly smug tone. I chewed on the inside of my cheek to keep from saying something I'd regret.

I went with Naruto and left the two of them to their own vices. I already knew what Ino was going to do. What did he plan to accomplish by ditching me? The part that pissed me off the most was the fact that she seemed like she was hiding something from me.

“So, why aren’t you guys dating?” Naruto asked me out of the blue after we’d been walking for a couple minutes.

“Hm?”

“You and Ino--you like each other, right?”

I pursed my lips. Man, that was a loaded question. I didn’t have a crush on Ino--if I did, I would have brought it up sooner than this. 

“No,” I blinked.

“That’s the whole reason Neji brought me along tonight,” Naruto admitted. “He knew Ino would bring you and he wanted someone to distract you. Otherwise, Ino’s attention would be divided the whole date.”

“Funny. Ino dragged me along because Neji said he was bringing you.”

Naruto laughed at that. “Guess we’re both the wingmen in this situation. But I actually didn’t mind coming out tonight. I usually stay at home, so this is a nice change.”

“I’m usually home, too. Well, home and the gym.” My dad stuck me in boxing around the time I was first settling in and it’s become something I do nearly every day. “

“I know,” he said and I stopped in my tracks to look at him, prompting him to quickly add. “People talk.”

“About me?”

“Well, mainly about you and Ino,” He mused. “People always ask the same question--are they or aren’t they together?”

“Has no one ever heard of friends?”

“Yeah, but friends don’t look at each other the way Ino looks at you.” We started walking again. “Neji thinks you’re a threat.”

“Yeah well up until a few hours ago, I didn’t even know Neji was into Ino.”

“Neji’s into what he can’t have. And since most of the school thinks Ino’s spoke for, Neji wants to pounce. It why he broke up with Sasuke.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Neji broke up with Sasuke for Ino?”

“You didn’t hear it from me. Those people are a mess--the whole group. I think I was actually better off on my own.” He scratched his head and the little markings on his cheek twitched. “If I were you, I’d watch out for Ino. Sasuke’s seriously crazy.”

We picked up a pizza and ended up eating it in the restaurant instead of walking back. Neither of us really wanted to go back and sit around awkwardly while the two of them finished up. Besides, I realized I had more in common with Naruto than I thought.

For instance, he lived with one parent. His dad had been his primary caretaker for as long as he could remember, aside from some ex-boyfriends that used to come in and out of his life. Naruto also mentioned that he was into art. He was trying to become a manga artist after high school, so that’s what he put most of his focus in.

“My grades suck,” He said as he licked the remains of the pizza off his fingers. “But I’m pretty amazing at drawing.”

“Really? Maybe you can give me a few pointers.”

“D’you draw?”

Crap, why’d I bring that up? I’ve been writing and drawing since I was a kid--before I was adopted, even. I’ve just never shared any of my work with anyone else. Primarily because it’s all hentai.

I’ve always been a really sexually frustrated kid. And since I wasn’t dating or having sex, I used my artistic abilities to bring that stuff to life. But I couldn’t tell Naruto that without looking like a freak.

“A little.” I looked away when I felt my cheeks burn.

“You’ll have to show me some time.” He pulled out his phone and glanced down at it. “Looks like they’re about done. Neji just texted me.”

“Should we start heading back, now?”

“Yeah, probably should.”

 

“He was alright.” Unbelievable. After pining after this guy for so long, you’d think Ino would have more to say than that about the experience. He peeled off his shirt and tossed it into a corner of the room before climbing into my bed. “Good for one fuck.”

“But not a second?”

He settled in next to me. “Neji’s too much of a slut for me to actually consider doing that more than once. Tonight was more for curiosity--dipping my pen in the well, I guess. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”

“You’ve been talking about him since last year.”

“Still just wanted to fuck him. Come on, Sakura, everyone talks about Neji.” He turned to face me. “Now you and Naruto-- _ that’s _ where the conversation is. Did I see you get his number or was I imagining things?”

“It’s not like that--we’re just into the same stuff, so he’s going to come over some time.”

“And talk about this stuff that you’re both interested in?” He wagged his eyebrows. “I know where that usually goes.”

“I told you, it’s not--”

“You don’t have to defend yourself to me, I’m just kiddin’,” He snickered. “I know you’re not really into that guy. Why would you be?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Ino didn’t say anything after that. Instead he just stared up at the ceiling and sighed. This jackass. He wasn’t the most sensitive guy in the world, nor was he the most understanding--but for some reason, I never seemed to have time for other guys when he’s around. That’s...kind of strange, right?


	2. Week two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this one changes to a third person perspective about halfway through. Just a warning!

“Dude, what’s your problem?” I chucked a book at him--it was the nearest thing that I could throw. I mean, who goes through someone’s phone like that? I’d been downstairs getting food for both of us before we started our movie. It was a horror film about a poltergeist or possession or something. Anyway, when I got back upstairs, Ino was at my desk scrolling through my phone.

I usually didn’t have a problem with him going through my phone. All he really did was play with my camera when he had it. But this time I’d caught him when he thought I was downstairs--I caught him sending a text to Naruto. No, he sent him a string of texts.

“We're you pretending to be me?”

“I just wanted to know if you were getting laid yet.” He threw his hands up in defense and sat on my bed. 

“You wanted to know if I was sleeping with him? Or you wanted to make sure I haven't, yet?” The expression on his face was priceless as his eyes wider and he opened his mouth as if he were going to protest that. But instead he settled for turning away from me. “You've been acting like a jerk ever since yesterday.”

“Well, would you imagine that?” There was some sarcasm in his tone. 

“What's going on with you?”

“Look, I’m not the one who's acting different,” he snapped. “I needed to find out why you keep ditching me for this guy.”

“What?” I can't believe this. “You're drawing these assumptions off of me sitting with him at lunch? Newsflash, you can sit there, too. It's just him and Neji.”

“I don't want to be around them,” he glared past me at the door. 

“That doesn't mean you can do  _ this _ shit! That's not how friendship works.”

“Well that's how  _ this _ friendship works,” he deadpanned. “If you're going to drop me for this guy, I'd rather you just rip the bandage off now.”

I'd never seen Ino like this. He'd managed to keep his composure and a level tone, despite being completely irrational. Who would jump to conclusions like this out of the blue? 

“I can have more than one friend.”

“I'm not saying you can't--just not him.”

“What's wrong with Naruto?”

“I saw the way he was looking at you at lunch.” He shook his head. “He wants to fuck you.”

“Why's your brain always go there? Why can't a guy just want to be my friend.”

“Do you know how many dudes want you?” He asked. “People talk about you just as much as they talk about Sasuke.”

That didn't sound right. People were nice to me, but no more nice than they needed to be. Ino sighed and lowered his head into his hands.

“I just...saw someone trying to move in and panicked.”

“Why?”

“Because…” He stood up finally, stretching his limbs for a good second before pacing towards me. He kept his eyes on my hands. Smart guy. I wouldn't trust a boxer’s hands right now either. Ino swallowed and looked up at me. “Because I need you.”

“You  _ need _ me?”

He shrugged and raised his eyebrows. “You're the only friend I've got.”

I took a moment to process what he said and weigh it's worth against the actual act. Out of the four days we'd been in school, I'd eaten with Naruto for two of them. We've been texting since our date last week and I'd say it was going well, but Ino might have driven him away with his tactics.

I liked Naruto. Enough to agree to go out again with him this weekend. I'd thought about telling Ino, but that seem like a good idea now.

“You're not sleeping in my bed tonight,” I told him.

“You're kicking me out?”

“You can sleep on the floor for all I care.”

He scoffed. “Unbelievable. You know it's not that big of a deal, right?”

“Invasion of privacy?”

“I go through your phone all the time.”

All of a sudden, I didn't feel too comfortable with that arrangement. I didn't have much interest in whatever it was Ino did during his free time away from me, but he knew pretty much everything I did. How did he manage that?

“On second thought--why don't you just sleep in the guest room?” I'm going to be sick.

 

I woke up to a steady creaking noise coming from somewhere in the house. Judging by the direction, most likely it was the guest room. Ino probably invited some guy over to screw him to sleep at...three in the morning? That's so late, was he really just staying up for sex? 

I could ignore it and go back to sleep--that'd be the easiest course of action. But when I closed my eyes again, the creaking started to intensify till there was an irritating knocking to match. That’s what got me to pull myself out of bed and step out into the hall. I wiped my eyes and rubbed my bare chest as I made my way towards the room on the other end of the house.

When I got to the door, the noise became clearer. And then there was also that sound of skin slapping skin…

I cracked the door open. Luckily the entire house was dark, so Ino kept up what he was doing--not that I could see them.

“You’re going to leave a mark.” Ino sounded out of breath. “Stop it.”

“But it’s hot--please?” I didn’t recognize the other guy’s voice, but he was definitely older. The thrusts got harder and after a few seconds, I heard the stranger start to grunt and groan.

“Shut up before they hear you,” Ino whispered.

“Who's out there? Your family?”

“Shit…” The sounds started to pick up and I heard them both start panting suddenly, then there was a noise that could have only come from Ino. I was frozen in place--I'd never been in the room with a guy who was climaxing. And this...this was my best friend. When he came down, the creaking stopped and the only sound was of them catching their breath.

“You came hard for such a little dude,” the stranger laughed. “Maybe I should get your dad in here to finish your job?”

“My boyfriend,” Ino said out of nowhere.

“What?”

“My boyfriend is the other person in the house.” Was he talking about me? It had to be me. 

“And...he doesn't know about this?”

“He doesn't need to,” he said quickly. “We don't have sex.”

“And judging by your tone, that's his choice, not yours?”

“He's not ready,” he replied. “I know he isn't.”

“I think that's for him to decide. Maybe we should ask him?”

“You've gotta go,” Ino told him. “I've got school in the morning and his dad gets up early.”

When I heard the bed creak, I turned and slipped out of the room, sprinting back to my own. 

 

It was hard to give Naruto the attention he deserved when Ino was taking up most of my thoughts. He'd called me his boyfriend. He said it to some random stranger without missing a beat. I haven't brought it up. How would I? He'd know I was actually in the room when he said it. I'd have to wait for another opportunity.

So here I was on a Friday night sitting across from a cute guy that I had a ton of stuff in common with, but Ino was still the only thing on my mind. How did he do that?

“Are you alright?” Naruto rested his hand in mine and stared at me with concern heavy in his eyes. “You seem distracted.”

“Huh?” It took me a moment to respond. “Oh, yeah--I'm fine.”

“Is the ramen okay?” He asked. “This is my favorite restaurant, best ramen I've ever had.”

I nodded. Honestly nearly everything about tonight was perfect, Naruto outdid himself. From the moment he picked me up, he'd been funny and nice--those were some of the characteristics people looked for in guys, right?

“So, tell me about your family?” He asked. “You live with one dad, right?”

“Yeah. Just me and my dad. He adopted me a few years back, so there's not really much to tell…what about you?”

“Both dads and a brother. Menma got sent away when we were five to go live with my grandparents. Even back then, he was a handful,” Naruto snickered. “My dads are pretty much my closest friends.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I looked down at the screen. Ino had sent me two texts. The first one was asking where I was; the second was telling me to disregard the first because he didn’t care that much. I was biting my tongue so hard.

“Is it Ino?” Naruto’s question made me finally look up from my phone. 

“He’s just asking if it’s going well.” So, I lied. Sue me.

“He’s...interesting.” He forced a chuckle as his eyes shifted away from me. “I don’t think he likes me very much. Didn’t really sound like he wanted me around, judging by those texts.”

I was wondering when he would bring that up. Well, part of me hoped he wouldn’t and I could just pretend I had no knowledge of it.

“Yeah...sorry about that…”

He gave me a puzzled look. “Why? Not like you’re responsible for the things he does. Besides, people have said way worse to me about way less.”

I believed him. Like I said before, the entire school treated Naruto terribly. It’s weird. I expected him to have some sort of bitterness about it. Half of his friends were shoving him into lockers and beating him up behind the school a year ago. To be fair, he said he was angry. He spent a lot of time being angry and filled with hatred.

Karma is what turned his life around. He said one day he just decided he would try to block out negative thoughts and be more positive for a day. At the end of that day, he ran into Neji and that’s how he decided to permanently change his stance.

“He’s harmless, I promise,” I said and added with a chuckle, “Ino can’t hold his own in a fight.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to fight him,” he began shoveling ramen into his mouth again. He didn’t even wait to finish chewing. “I try not to fight anymore. Got one too many concussions growing up.”

“I don’t think it’ll come to that.” I waved a hand in dismissal.

“I just want to make sure I’m still on good terms.”

“With Ino?”

“With  _ you _ .” He shoved more food into his mouth. “It’s been fun hanging out with you and I’d like to keep doing it.”

“Same. Tonight’s been fun.”

“Neji’s having a few people over tomorrow night. There’s going to be drinking, but no one’s going to pressure you to take anything if you don’t want to. Would you…?”

“What time?”

He beamed at that. “Uh--I can pick you up at around seven.”

My dad was usually out of the house around that time on the weekends. Those were the days his friends were off work and no one had anything to do, so they’d gather in someone’s house and gamble for hours. I tried to talk my dad out of it, especially when he came home with a new laptop after one of the games. Instead, I got him to agree to a maximum of $200 when it came to him betting. 

If he was gone, I could go to Neji’s and come back without him suspecting a thing. But that just left Ino…

“I’d say you can bring Ino, but Neji’s still pretty pissed about him never calling.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“Why do you keep doing that?” He laughed. “You don’t have to apologize for the things Ino does. You’re not his boyfriend.”

He said that and it made sense--I wasn’t his boyfriend. Was I? Reflecting on the way he’s treated me in the past, I could see where the suspicions came from. And then there was this whole mess with him trying to get me away from Naruto.

“It’s just a habit.”

“A weird one.” He rested his elbows on the table. “So, you’re the one that bails him out of stuff, then? Can’t say I’m surprised.”

Our relationship wasn’t like that. Sure, Ino did stupid things, but so did I. Like last week with the dog. It was my idea to take the shortcut home. Usually the Inuzukas kept Akamaru inside or locked up in the backyard until the streets were cleared--meaning we had till ten or eleven to go past there without the risk of getting chased down.

We were so lucky last week and I had a run in with the dog. Long story short, the dog went after me, so I slung a block of cement at it. It injured the dog badly enough to where it didn’t move, so we went closer to examine it. When he snarled at Ino, my friend used that same center block to smash his head. 

“We take turns protecting each other. That’s just kind of how it’s always been.”

“That’s adorable.” He was grinning from ear to ear and all I could do was blush and look away from him. “Well, let him know that there aren’t any hard feelings between us. If you’ve been friends with him this long, he can’t be too bad.”

“He really isn’t. Ino was the first person to talk to me when I got here. He's a part of my life here. That doesn't mean he's perfect.”

“No one is,” He said as he finished up his ramen. He leaned back after that and sighed with a smile on his face. “Well, nothing like a belly full of good food.”

“You look content,” I smiled.

“As always,” he shrugged. “So...guess I should get you home?”

 

~~

 

This is an author’s note in the middle of the story. I’m changing this to third person perspective at this point so I can cover more ground. Hope you guys don’t mind! This way, I can cover more characters and ships. Rather than re-writing everything, I figured this would be easier.

 

~~

 

Sakura went to Neji’s party without Ino. He’d originally planned to keep the whole thing a secret from him. That was before social media started to blow up. Naruto had told him it would just be a few people--according to the sixty-five people who RSVP'd for it. Sakura was sure when he walked through the front door that at least twice that number had showed up.

“Kids from the other schools,” Naruto was nervous. This was him bringing the guy he liked around his friends--his friends who also seemed to have a thing for Sakura, too. The other didn’t seem to know just how popular he was. Ever since Naruto’s known him, he’s been attached to Ino Yamanaka at the hip. It was a relief to know they weren’t actually dating. “Neji invited the cool kids from all over the district.”

“Sounds...uh…” The word Sakura wanted to use was superficial. Looking around, he did notice that everyone had a certain look to them. They all wore similar attire, a trend that was going around among the jocks, cheerleaders, and other ‘popular’ kids. This was that kind of party. “Cool.”

Ino would have hated this. As much as he loved hot drunk guys, this wasn’t a crowd he could stand for very long. Sakura felt a little better about ditching him after the though.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Naruto asked Sakura as they traveled past the crowd. “I think there’s punch.”

“That’s fine.” Sakura was already starting to feel out of his element. Eyes were definitely on him. Mainly kids from his school who knew who he was. And then there were kids from other schools who took in his bright pink hair and the muscles he’d gained from all those years of boxing--the tank top he was wearing worked for him.

Naruto was reluctant to leave him for that reason. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he’d be able to bring Sakura Senju to a party. At this time last year, he was sitting in his room playing video games. That just goes to show that good things come to those who wait. And he’d done his fair share of waiting.

Still, he left him, quickly weaving through the crowd so he didn’t have to be gone for long. But in that time, someone had already begun to approach his date.

“Haven’t seen you around before,” Temari openly checked him out, thin lips twisting up into a smirk. So, this was Sakura? He looked even better up close. Temari had only heard things about him, but he never looked into seeing what he looked like. But now that he was face to face with him, he definitely wasn’t disappointed. “You go to the Hidden Leaf, don’t you?”

Sakura took a moment before he answered him. Mostly because this was a complete stranger and strangers didn’t usually approach him.

“Yeah. I do,” he replied. “Um--who’re you?”

He gave Sakura what he obviously thought was a charming grin while Sakura shifted uncomfortably under his stare. He sipped some of his drink before giving the other his name.

“So, you’re here with Naruto--did he guilt you into it?” There was a hint of humor and some distaste in his voice at the mention of the blond. After far as Temari knew, the kid used to be a complete loser. How’d he end up landing someone like this?

Sakura started scanning his surroundings again. People were dancing, playing drinking games, making out--Sakura even noticed some people feeling each other up. Was this what parties were all about? 

Temari noticed the lack of an answer, but it didn’t deter him. If he’d given up every time a guy turned him down, his record wouldn’t be as high as it was. Sakura may have come with Naruto, but Temari would be damned if he wasn’t going to leave with this pink haired eye candy on his arm after it was all said and done. One night was all he wanted from Sakura--and he’d stop at nothing to obtain it.

Naruto came back and held the cup out to Sakura, shifting his eyes towards the third guy in the triangle.

“Hey,” he said, prompting the other to visibly turn up his nose and give Sakura a look.

“I’ll see you around, Sakura,” Temari said before walking off.

Naruto tried his best not to let it get to him--and he succeeded well. Through the years of ridicule, he’d learned how to be thick-skinned when needed. He lead Sakura to where Neji and Sasuke were. Seemed like they really were off and on, because Neji’s hands were running through Sasuke’s hair so sensually that Sakura could feel the sensual tension between the two of them. They broke eye contact as the pair approached, Sasuke looking at Sakura first.

“You made it,” Neji grinned, looking past Sakura. He was looking for Ino, actually. Although he’d specifically un-invited him, he still couldn’t deny that he’d been hoping he’d make an appearance. It would definitely stir things up with Sasuke and Neji secretly loved when Sasuke got hot and bothered over things like that. Usually on those nights, he’d make sure to show Neji just who was in charge behind closed doors. “Where’s your friend?”

The three of them looked at Neji, Sasuke’s expression was particularly disturbed. Did he really just ask him that?

“You didn’t want him here,” Sakura recapped. Even if Ino weren’t banned, the fight he and Sakura had before leaving for this thing would have ruined any chance of him coming otherwise.

“Well, he’s a dick,” Neji shrugged. And he brought his lips to Sasuke’s neck to continue their heated session. Whatever moment they’d been having was over and he pushed the boy off of him. Neji settled down on the couch with a short-lived pout before turned to Sakura. “See what I go through?”

Sakura shrugged in response. “Uh, I guess?” Then he took a drink. The stuff was dangerous in the sense that Sakura couldn’t taste any trace of alcohol, despite knowing full well that it was spiked. But that was the nature of the punch. The alcohol was supposed to sneak up on you.

He sat with them for most of the first half of the party. A few more people had gathered around them to start a drinking game that Sakura was arguably bad at upon first glance. When paired with the fact that he rarely drink, it was easy to see why the alcohol kicked in relatively quick. He finished a cup by the end of the third round and was immediately pushed a second.

Temari had been lingering, making sure he got a spot next to Sakura for this exact situation. He’d slipped a little something into the cup when no one was looking. All it took was a little chat from his friend Suigetsu for him to get his hands on something that’d make the pink haired male loosen up more. It’d kick in in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. Temari watched Sakura take the drink and sip it without a second thought.

That’s a good boy, he thought. 

“Sasuke, let’s take a timeout,” Neji said. He’d had enough alcohol in his system to deem himself horny enough. He couldn’t care less about the hundred people in his home. 

“I’m talking,” Sasuke muttered back.

Neji rolled his eyes. If Sasuke wasn’t going to give him the attention he needed, he could find someone else to fill the spot. Someone like...Naruto. Yeah, Naruto would be perfect. Sure, he was here with Sakura, but it didn’t really matter. After all, Neji wasn’t into him, he just needed someone to help him cum.

He glanced over at his friend with a smile, waiting for him to make eye contact. When the moment finally happened, Neji made a gesture towards the kitchen. Naruto gave him a short nod before standing up.

Sakura would have noticed that they were both leaving, had he not had that particular drink. Now, his body was starting to feel heavy and...weird. Why did he feel so weird? He furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes found Temari.

“Are you okay?” The blond asked him with a grin. 

“Yeah...yeah, I’m fine,” Sakura nodded, but that only made his brain rattle. He decided he needed some air. It took more effort than necessary to pick up his body, but once he did, he stumbled to the back door.

There were a few scattered groups in the backyard, but not too many compared to the volume of people inside. Sakura found a secluded corner of the yard and let his body lay flat in the grass.

_ I wonder what Ino’s doing right now? _

Elsewhere, Naruto and Neji in the kitchen.

“Come on, I’m calling in that favor you owe me.” Neji leaned into him and wrapped his arms around his neck. He’d been a key-player in Naruto’s rise to nearing the top of the food chain and it had proven to be his biggest challenge. It took a lot to get Naruto to stop being so weird and obnoxious for one thing. Sasuke reluctantly let the kid join when he went to the gym in exchange for one too many blowjobs from Neji. “If it weren’t for me, you’d still be pining after him from a distance.”

“But…” He had a point. Naruto was practically invisible to Sakura before Neji stepped in. And looking back, Neji didn’t have to do all of the things he’d done for Naruto. At the very least, he deserved some type of repayment. Naruto swallowed and looked around to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. “Alright, fine. Just...promise you won’t tell anyone?”

“Of course not,” Neji giggled. He didn’t have to. The only person he’d want to know about this is Sasuke and he was sure the black haired male had put it all together by now. “I won’t tell a soul. Now, come on.”

Temari walked past Naruto and Neji on their way up the stairs and knew something was up, but he had better things to do than cockblock. He walked outside and scanned the yard. At first glance, he missed Sakura. But then he took a closer look and was able to identify the black shadow lying across the grass on the far end of the yard.

He smirked and strolled over to him, making sure to seem as natural as possible. When he got close enough, he heard the other mumbling something. His head was tossing from side to side, but he seemed relatively out of it.

“Well, well, well,” Temari licked his lips. “Looks like we meet again.”

He couldn’t do this here. Anyone could come out and see him. Even though it dark out, he didn’t trust the open space, so he picked Sakura’s body up off the ground. He was heavier than Temari anticipated, but that only meant this guy had some serious muscle going on. The blond’s arm snaked around his waist as he all but dragged him towards the house.

A quarter of the party was passed out somewhere, so Temari stepped over all of the people to get to the stairs. Neji had six bedrooms in the house--one of them had to be free. He walked past the first two. The noise coming from them was a clear sign they were occupied. 

“He’s not….” Sakura’s words were slurred and his head bobbed. “...a pedophile…”

_ What was he talking about? _ Temari chuckled and shook his head as he opened the bedroom door. He waited to turn on the lights till after he shut the door. That’s when he made eye contact with a wide-eyed Naruto and Neji straddling his lap on the bed. Where Naruto’s pants had been maneuvered out of the way to let his erection free, Neji’s entire bottom half was exposed.

Looks like there are some skeletons in the closet, Temari thought.

“Sakura?” Naruto sat up on the bed and for a moment, he forgot about the compromising situation he was in. His date was nearly a vegetable, being dragged by Temari. Despite what everyone believed, Naruto wasn’t dumb. He was actually a master at deductive reasoning, but it didn’t take much thought to realize where this was supposed to go. “What did you do to him?”

He tried to push Neji off of him, but his upper body was pushed back down to the bed.

“We’re not done,” Neji said and he looked back at Temari. “If you really want to get laid, why don’t you just join us?”

Naruto’s heart skipped a beat at that. That wasn’t the favor Neji had originally called in. But as the Hyuga made eye contact with him once again, he knew exactly what he was thinking. He wanted to add this as part of the repayment. 

Not only that, but Neji had figured he’d gladly take one for the team if it meant Sakura wouldn’t be getting raped at his party. Imagine that blemish being on his reputation. No one would come to his parties if they found out. He’d just have to make the note to ban Temari from his future parties.

Temari considered the offer, though he knew once Neji made it that he’d most likely take it. What else would he do? Decline and tell them that he’d rather fuck the unconscious dude in the next room? That’d make him look bad. 

He sat Sakura in a chair and walked over to the bed with his eyes on Naruto.

“Don’t worry about him,” He said. “He won’t remember a thing.”

With both boys hovering over him, the thought that he’d made a mistake in agreeing to this crossed his mind. Especially with Sakura so close. Both Neji and Temari saw the look on his face. He didn't want this--both of them knew he didn't want this. So, why did they keep going?

“You'll love this,” Neji purred in his ear. He wrapped his fingers around Naruto’s penis. It wasn't as big as Sasuke's--maybe around five inches. Still, it was something Neji could work with. Temari was around the same length, maybe a little bigger. He sat up on his knees, his member at Neji’s chest. 

Naruto's jaw clenched as Neji lowered himself onto him. His eyes staying on Sakura and he realized he was holding his breath. 

_ Fuck, this feels good _ . He hated that he was having these thoughts. But Neji without a doubt knew what he was doing. Naruto finally tore his eyes from his date when Neji's hole clenched around him. He looked up just in time to see Temari slide into Neji's mouth.

_ Now this was phenomenal. Guess Neji really is the school slut _ , Temari smirked. His school had one of those, but he got tired of Sasori quickly. Neji was able to multitask, working both his mouth and hips like it was nothing.

Sakura stirred in the chair, mumbling something incoherently and causing Naruto to jerk up again. This time Neji couldn't stop him and he was able to knock him off.

“What are you doing?” Neji was annoyed. It wasn't supposed to take this long to get off. 

“Look, I…” Naruto scrambled out of the bed, zipping his pants up. “This is wrong and--I gotta go.”

He could have left a long time ago and he kicked himself for not doing so. Sakura was still outcome despite the words he'd spoken. Temari watched Naruto pick him up bridal-style like it was nothing. _The kid is strong, I'll give him that._

He rushed to the car with a painful swelling in his chest and he couldn't bring himself to look at Sakura. He wanted him to have a good time tonight and this is what came of it. He wouldn't blame Sakura if he never wanted to see him again. Tonight he screwed up. He screwed up big time.


	3. Week Three

Ino didn't question why Sakura sat with him today. After the words that were said, he was sure he'd lost out to Naruto. But Sakura didn't seem to want to talk about Naruto. He didn't seem to want to talk about anything. Ino watched him stare at his food with a blank expression that Sakura usually got after Tsunade got done knocking him around.

If he did something to him, I'll kill him. Ino was just looking for reasons to fight Tsunade or Naruto or anyone else. Except maybe Sakura. He couldn't fight Sakura.

“How was the party?” He tried not to sound bitter about it. He noticed the slight since he got from Sakura at the mention of it. He liked to think he knew his best friend well enough to know when something was wrong. “Did something happen?”

Sakura could tell him that he had gotten wasted and blacked out. After he started drinking, he didn't remember a thing. He woke up on his couch the morning after with the worst headache. He'd texted Naruto a couple of time over the weekend, but he hadn't gotten a reply back. He could only draw the conclusion that he'd made a complete idiot out of himself.

“It's nothing.” Sakura shook his head, but Ino wouldn't give up that easily. 

“Sakura, look at me.” His voice was firm, like it always had to be in these situations. Sakura never got sad about things, he got pissed. If something was making him feel this particular emotion, Ino was worried. He stared at his friend with hardened eyes. “Tell me what happened.”

Sakura caved as always.

“I don't remember,” he started. “I was drinking with some people and then--I guess I blacked out. I woke up at home the next morning.”

“So, the problem is that you passed out?” Ino's mind went to the worst places. Sakura could take care of himself usually. But he didn't drink enough to be able to do that while he was drunk. Ino knew what people thought of his best friend. If Sakura was passed out at a party, either someone had been feeding him enough drinks to get him to that point or… “Sakura, how many drinks do you remember having?”

What did it matter? Whether he had one or five, he blacked out. That's what happened to most lightweights, right?

“Uh, one.” He thought back. One drink--then they started playing drinking games and he finished it. And so that guy stepped in. “Wait--someone gave me another one after I finished my first.”

“Open cup? Do we know the guy?” Ino was already standing, ready to track down whoever this prick was. He was sure he'd put something in Sakura’s drink.

“He goes to a different school.” Sakura admired Ino’s chivalry in times like these. The times he was less possessive and more protective. Maybe the would make good boyfriends?

Ino bit his tongue to keep the ‘I told you so’s at bay. He knew he was still in the doghouse and that would only hurt his cause.

But then he had another thought. “Where was Naruto during all of this?” 

“Last I remember, he was right next to me the whole time. I don't think the guy got anywhere.” Sakura wrapped his mind around the idea of him being drugged. In all of his life, he'd never experienced something like that. He'd had drugs in his system. “Naruto--hasn't spoken to me since that night, though.”

Ino was less than hurt by that. Naruto was someone who didn't belong in the picture in the first place. He searched his brain for a comment that wouldn't come off as rude. Just in time, his phone vibrated. He could tell by the tone that came with it that it was from the hookup app on his phone. 

He held his phone slightly out of Sakura's line of sight as he peered at the message. It was the guy from last week that he'd messaged when Sakura kicked him out of the bed. This guy was twice Ino's age, yet he insisted on being completely submissive to him that night. 

‘Wanna meet up again?’

Ino smirked. So, he wanted more? Figures--but Kakashi's novelty ran out once Ino dropped a load in him. So he ignored the message, pocketing his phone and looking up just in time to see Sasuke walking towards them.

“Relax,” Sasuke growled without raising his voice. “I'm not here to start anything.”

“You already have.” Ino folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Go back to where you came from.”

“I came to talk to you, so stop being an idiot.” He couldn't believe he'd resorted to this, but he was desperate. He saw Neji leave with Naruto and he knew exactly what that meant. He needed some way to even the playing field and the best way he could think of was sleeping with the guy who's name Neji had accidentally called out during sex last week. He could tell that the Hyuga wanted Ino for more than just a quick fuck.

Ino raised an eyebrow. “Me?”

“Yeah, idi--” he had to stop himself. “Yes. Can we go somewhere else?” The last thing Sasuke wanted was to get rejected in front of Sakura and have this potentially get back to Neji in that manner.

Ino hesitated for a few moments before asking Sakura to watch his food. When they got a few feet away, Sasuke gave his pitch.

“Look, I don't like you and you don't like me.” He didn't know why he chose to start off with that. Maybe it was to clear the air of the tension but it only worked to make Ino puff up his chest and give him an even more distasteful look. Sasuke cleared his throat and carried on. “But I think that we should start sleeping together.”

Ino wasn't expecting that. His expression changed from one of irritation to confusion. Did he really just ask that?

“What?” Ino asked.

“With anyone else, I run the risk of them wanting more than sex,” Sasuke said. “You despise me. That's why I thought to ask.”

“No.” 

Ouch. Even though he'd partially anticipated it, this still hurt. He wasn't used to being rejected, but as Ino turned to walk away from him, he couldn't bring himself to say anything else.

“What was that about?” Sakura asked once Ino came back.

“Nothing. Come on, lunch is almost over.”

 

~~

 

It had officially been five days since Naruto spoke to Sakura and he was sure Naruto was over him. It just didn't make sense...what could he have done that was so bad that Naruto was avoiding him like this?

He thought about that on the way to the store. The tiny shop that was seven blocks away from his house. He hated coming all the way out here. Usually he'd ride his bike or skateboard, but his dad had called him on his way home from school. This was the only store that didn't card him--he only came to this one to buy his dad more beer. The guy behind the counter was one of his dad's old friends, Jiraiya.

Sakura walked in and tossed a greeting to the person behind the counter. He wanted to be in and out fast, so he picked up the beer and went straight to the register. And the person staring back at him was someone he'd never seen before.

“I need some ID, kid.”

“What?” Sakura wasn't expecting that. “I come here like once a week.”

“Well, this week you're not walking out of here with this beer without an ID.” Kakashi had better things planned for his day than babysitting the shop. He cursed his inability to say no to Guy when he asked for favors like these. 

Sakura couldn't go home without that beer, but there was no way he could tell this stranger. 

“Can't I pay extra for it or something?”

“Nope.”

“ _ Please _ .”

“I think you should leave.” Something about this man’s voice rung a bell in Sakura's head and he searched his thoughts to recall where he'd heard it. No matter, he couldn't go home without that alcohol. Tsunade's wrath wasn't worth it.

Who could help him out right now?

He could only think of Hinata. He wasn't on good enough terms to call him himself, so he asked Neji to do it for him. 

It didn't take Hinata to get there. Sakura had only been waiting for five minutes when he pulled up. First thing he noticed when the older male stepped out of the car was that Hinata had cut his hair. It now nearly matched Sakura's in length. Second thing he noticed was the lack of Neji.

“Where's Neji?” He asked.

Hinata shrugged one shoulder. “Now, what do you need me to buy?”

Sakura gave him the name of Tsunade's second favorite. If he went in and bought the exact same brand so soon after Sakura's attempt, they risked being exposed. When Hinata walked into the store, Kakashi glanced up from his magazine.

“Can I help you?” He questioned.

“Nah, just looking around.” Hinata’s voice was soft as he floated towards a random aisle in the store. Kakashi's eyes followed as he went around and picked up and few things before going to the beer. 

When he came up to the counter, Kakashi asked “Drinking on a Wednesday?”

“Don't judge,” Hinata said in one disconnected breath.

“Just trying to strike up conversation.” This job was boring and he'd only been there for three hours. If anything, he wanted to be hooking up with someone. It had been a good four days since he was last with someone. This guy looked promising. Not to mention he wouldn't be the youngest Kakashi's had. The boy from last night took the cake there. He generally stayed away from minors but that one kid...he was hot; to say the least. Too bad he didn't message back often.

Hinata took out his wallet and paid for everything he bought, flashing the clerk a gorgeous grin before walking out. 

“Well?” Sakura asked once he approached.

“Before I give this to you, I want a favor.”

He wasn't expecting that. “What kind of favor?”

Hinata was friends with Sakura by any means, but Sakura seemed to be his best chance at getting what he wanted. Hinata didn't care much for his younger brother. Sure, he loved him, but Ino was too good to pass up. 

He wrote his number down on a piece of paper and handed it to Sakura. “Give this to your friend Ino.”

He left with a lazy wave and got into his car. Sakura watched him drive off before he went home.

 

~

 

“Tch,” Sasuke cut his eyes away from Naruto. He may not have been at the bottom of the food chain anymore but he was still a loser. And he'd screwed Sasuke's boy, so that added a whole new layer to things. 

“What's wrong, Sasuke?” Neji basked in the frustration, sitting in Naruto's lap. “Jealous?”

“I thought you had someone to stick your peashooter into.” Sasuke had Naruto locked in a death glare. “Shouldn't you be somewhere with him?”

Naruto looked away. He'd done his best to steer clear of Sakura after this past weekend. He didn't know what to say to him after that and every thought of him filled the blond with guilt. 

Sasuke picked up on the mixed feelings.

“Or did he drop you?” It wouldn't surprise him. “Was fucking Neji worth it?”

“Sasuke, shut it,” Neji hissed. 

“Serves him right,” Sasuke scoffed, standing up. “You bit off more than you could chew and the universe is putting you in your place.”

“Fuck off,” Naruto mumbled.

“You're lucky he went out with you in the first place.” Sasuke said it as if it hadn't crossed Naruto's mind already. 

“Stop acting like a baby,” Neji grumbled, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

“Whatever, I'm outta here.” He didn't care to stick around and see if they'd have sex again. He left Neji’s house and went to the only place besides his home where he had freedom--it was an old warehouse that a few high school kids turned into a venue for socializing, almost like a club.

Kids from other schools gathered to hang out whenever they had free time--it was something like neutral ground for the five schools.

Sasuke saw his brother across the club. Itachi was nearly twenty-one years old, yet he still frequented this place during the weekdays when the adult clubs and bars weren't open.

He wasn't ashamed to admit he didn't have the stones to tell Itachi to stop showing up, but he tried to make the place as much his as he could. 

Itachi was a favorite, though. People Sasuke's age were all over him because he was an older man. And it wasn't rare that he'd bring a friend inside as well. Generally, the cut off age for entrance was nineteen, but the kids running the place made an exception for Itachi.

Tonight he'd brought Deidara, a guy that irritated Sasuke with every breath he took. He decided to just avoid them; the place was big enough. He scanned the place for someone familiar. Majority of this place seemed to be from the Hidden Mist and he recognized some of them from past football games. Then his eyes landed on the two boys sitting in a secluded area--Hinata and Ino. 

Well, well, he smirked. Looks like Ino was moving on to the next Hyuga. Sasuke had to hand it to the guy, he looked like he knew what he was doing. Seducing Neji was an easy task, he jumped on anything that moved. But Hinata had a little more mystery to him. He was actually Sasuke's first choice, but never picked up on any advances like Neji did. 

Sasuke also saw Sakura, sitting alone with a drink in his hand and a distant look on his face. He'd been dragged along by Ino. While his friend said it was so he wouldn't be lonely, the real reason was because Tsunade's bender was starting to take a turn for the worst. He'd be damned if Sakura was going to be a punching bag for that prick tonight.

Ino had gotten close enough to let his hand rest on Hinata’s thigh, just out of Sakura's line of sight. He'd planned on getting laid tonight. After all, Hinata was a big catch. Truthfully not his type, but he'd be stupid to pass him up.

“I couldn't care less if Neji found out,” he muttered in Hinata's ear. “I’m done with him.”

“Harsh.” Hinata understood, though. Ino was the type that didn't seem like he was easy to keep. Hinata had seen his brother with dozens of guys on his tail, none of them disregarded him like this after a night together.

“If you cared, you wouldn’t have given me your number.”

“Point taken.” 

Sakura looked down at his drink. He’d gotten soda, just because his last experience ended on a bad note. But as he looked around, he noticed everyone around him was drinking, despite it being only Thursday. 

_ One drink _ , he sighed inwardly.  _ One drink is all I need _ .

Otherwise he was stuck listening to the two of them flirt. He decided to move to the bar, weaving through the crowd of people. Sasuke had downed two shots since sitting down at the bar and he was ordering his third when a flash of pink appeared next to him. He shifted his eyes to the side and listened to Sakura stumble through an order.

“Sorry, I don’t usually drink out.” He tried not to stammer as the guy on the other side stared at him with an annoyed expression.

“Give him a Italian Apple Martini,” Sasuke cut in, keeping his voice neutral. Sasuke was a genius--not smarter than Shikamaru Nara but he was quicker than most. In the few seconds it took for Sakura to nervously slide take up the seat next to him, he'd devised a whole new course of action.

Naruto liked this guy. While Sasuke found him as average as the other guys around, he couldn't ignore the fact that he could use his charms to teach Naruto who's boss by landing Sakura.

“And add it to my tab,” he said to the bartender when he slid the drink over.

Sakura looked at him in surprise but before he could say anything, Sasuke held up a first to silence him.

“Just the first one. You can pay for your next one yourself.” As a general rules, Uchihas didn't openly show interest in people. Sasuke had been raised by his uncle Madara with that being one of their ideologies. And it's how he got Neji to keep coming back to him in the beginning.

Sakura sipped his drink and nodded. It was better than what he'd had at Neji’s party--probably because it wasn't just Punch and vodka. He gave Sasuke a thanks before turning to walk away.

Sasuke was prepared to let him go. He'd bought him a drink and that was about as much effort as he was prepared to put into it for the night. Sakura paused when he saw his friend engaged in an intense make out session.

_ On second thought, guess I'll stay _ . He sat back down at the bar and sighed. That was Sasuke's cue.

“Drinks are half price on weekdays,” he said. When Sakura gave him a look of puzzlement, he elaborated. “You look like you need something to take the edge off is all.”

“Why're you talking to me?” He didn't want to be rude, he had no problem his Sasuke, but he knew of Ino’s rivalry with the boy. “Neji isn't around, so you don't have a reason to acknowledge me.”

“I don't have a problem with you.” Sasuke tossed back his shot.

“Or maybe you're too drunk to care?” Sakura asked as the bartender filled his shot glass once more. “How long have you been here?”

Sasuke chuckled at the question. Why not just blatantly ask me how many I've had? “About fifteen minutes.”

Sakura glanced around the club. 

“I came alone.” Sasuke stared down at his shot glass. “I don't come here with Neji.”

He got tired of the stolen glances Neji had with random guys. This city was big, but somehow Neji managed to sleep with half of the club.

“Doesn't seem like this place would be much fun alone,” Sakura shrugged. “Unless you're just a lone shark when it comes to this type of thing.”

“I didn't come here to hook up. I came here to breathe.” He realized the irony of the statement as soon as it left his lips. In a warehouse full of teenagers dancing to loud music and drinking, one wouldn't expect to find much solitude.

“Had enough air?” Sakura watched Sasuke down his next shot and half of him wanted to tell the bartender to stop as he watched him immediately refill it. But that wasn't his place.

The liquid had lost most of it's burn by now and Sasuke took less than a second to recover from the sting and reply to him, “had enough of being the third wheel?”

“If I hadn't, I wouldn't be sitting here.”

“Is there ever a time you don't follow him around?”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Sakura straightened up.

“Sorry,” Sasuke took a final shot before signaling for them to stop coming. “I'm an impulsive dick; thought you would have caught on by now.”

“And I've got a bad temper, so I guess we should steer clear of each other.”

“Sounds more like a challenge than a warning.”

Sakura didn't know what to say to that and Sasuke took the silence as a sign that he had the upper hand.

“So, what’d you come for?” He asked Sakura. “If you didn't come because of Ino, why did you?”

Sakura shrugged. “To get away from my dad, I guess.”

He'd heard a thing or two about Sakura's dad. Not exactly the town drunk, but it wasn't common to see him sober. Apparently the guy used to be a big shot, he got his house after winning a bet that cost the other guy an arm and a leg and somehow, he was able to gamble as much as he wanted without getting into any real trouble. Madara had told Sasuke that Tsunade was a generally violent man--and that his son was too much like him in nature to be adopted. Truth be told, when Sasuke saw Sakura in the halls he looked as unruffled as the rest.

“Well, you picked a hell of a spot.” They did a decent job of keeping the place hidden, though the rules were strict. No pictures or videos, no one could park less than a block away, and you had to use a hidden entrance that was a good distance from the road. “He won't find you down here.”

Elsewhere, Ino had come up for air after pinning Hinata to the couch. Christ, I hope I have enough class to refrain from fucking this guy right here. It wasn't a rule--he'd seen dozens of guys screw in his very spot. But Sakura was also here. He sat up at caught his breath, looking down at the spent Hyuga beneath him. He chewed on his lip to keep from pouncing on the other again and looked down, expecting to see his friend.

Where is that--?

The blond’s demeanor shifted noticeably when he saw who his friend was talking to. Ironically, the first thought to come into Ino’s mind wasn’t ‘why is he flirting with Sasuke’ but ‘why is he flirting with some other guy’? Sasuke just so happened to be the icing on top of the cake that made Ino detach himself from Hinata and attempted to stagger over to them. Sasuke saw him coming before he even got up and he maintained eye contact with Sakura while he finished up his thought.

“I’m gonna head out to the balcony.” He moved out of his seat and right on schedule, Sakura stood as well.

“Can I come with you?”

He shot him a smirk and passed the bartender a hundred before turning to walk outside. The crowd of dancing drunks was enough to deter Ino, especially since he’d been drinking.

Although Sasuke hadn’t looked in his direction, he knew he was being stared at. Once he stepped outside and breathed in the cool, crisp air, his eyes finally landed on Sakura.

“So, am I as bad as you thought I’d be?” He questioned.

Sakura shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Ah, that’s not an answer.” Sasuke didn’t normally smoke--just when he was out in public like this. He was indifferent about the taste, but something about the aesthetic pleased him. He sparked up his cigarette and took a short puff before exhaling. 

“You’re more patient than I thought you’d be.”

How could he tell from one conversation? Sasuke walked over to the nearby bench and sat down. 

“You only see me when I'm around Neji. I'm a different person when I've got a headache.”

Sakura nodded at that. “Neji can be a handful.”

“That's the understatement of a lifetime.” He chuckled. “My life was pretty quiet before I was dropped into Neji's world. I'm sure you can identify with that sentiment .”

“Ino isn't that bad…”

“But?” Sasuke coaxed it out of him. With the drinks and the fresh air, he had Sakura right where he wanted him. 

“But sometimes he gets bossy, I guess.” Sakura started. “He likes to know where I am all the time. Sometimes he makes me come with him when I just want to stay home.”

“Sounds like Ino's a little too possessive.”

“He hates when I do anything with anyone and--”

“Like Naruto?”

Sakura stopped and looked at Sasuke. He'd almost forgotten about that blond idiot.

“Fuck Naruto.” 

“Colorful,” Sasuke uttered at the response. “I'll be honest, he refuses to talk about you. Had me a little curious--but he seemed pretty into you at the party the other day. At least for the first half of it.”

Right--Sakura could finally get the missing details of that night.

“I don't think I remember the second half,” Sakura admitted.

“It's probably best you don't,” he shrugged. “Things started to die down after Neji took someone upstairs.”

“Right in front of you? Who was it?”

Depending on how Sasuke played this last bit would determine whether or not he hooked Sakura. He wore a look of mock hesitation before speaking up.

“Doesn't matter, the guy's dead to me.”

“And you forgave Neji?”

“I always do. Isn't that what friends are for?”

Sakura smiled at his answer. The two boys talked for the next half hour--not about anything in particular. They found themselves jumping from subject to subject and each time one of them would have the thought to leave, something else would come up.

Just as he planned, Sasuke got Sakura's number. It was right before he was leaving. The pink haired boy slipped it into his hand.


	4. Week Four

Sakura was sure he was going to kill him. This had to be the worst he’d ever seen his dad and there was nothing to provoke him aside from Ino just being Ino. Tsunade was on top of him in a matter of seconds and slamming his head into the floor as he strangled him. Sakura’s father was the nearly the same size as the two of them in terms of appearance--but the man was dense. When Ino started flailing and Sakura tried to pry him off, his fist reeled back and came down hard on Ino’s face.

Sakura heard the disgusting noise. It sounded like something popping or maybe splitting or--he couldn’t think about that right now. He wrapped his arms around his father from behind and tugged him off of the blond with one yank, shoving him over the couch.

“Ino, oh my god,” The pink haired boy dropped to his knees as his friend spit blood on the tilt and struggled to sit up.

“I’m not finished with you!” Tsunade came charging back and this time, Sakura was the one to deliver a punch. A blow right to the older man’s stomach and made him pause and drop to his knees after a second.

It took a moment for it to register with the two boys what they’d done. Sakura was strong--all of that training wasn’t for nothing. But Tsunade had to recover from that at some point, and it would be best if they weren’t around when he did.

And they would have left, too--had Tsunade not said the next thing.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” he said in his rough voice, staggering to his feet and looking straight at Ino. This type of occurrence wasn’t a rare thing--Tsunade lost his temper with Ino frequently enough for Sakura to call this routine. But something about this didn’t seem like the other times. Tsunade had a sort of feral anger in his voice that Sakura had never seen before and Sakura knew that if he didn’t act, Tsunade would follow through on his word.

This event may have been triggered by an offhanded remark Ino made, but Tsunade was channelling his anger from years’ past.

“Dad, stop!” He tried. He tried everything he could, but when Tsunade picked up the small end table and hurled it in their direction, he ducked but it had hit it’s target anyway.

Ino let out a loud cry and brought his hands to his chest. The table had hit him in the torso and knocked the wind out of him.

“Sakura used to be a good kid till you tainted him,” his dad spat at Ino.

“”And that’s why you picked him out, right?” Ino wiped his mouth and spit more blood on the floor in defiance. “He was a good kid. Wouldn’t cause any trouble for you.”

“What are you getting at?”

Sakura felt like his heart had stopped and his internal voice screamed and prayed that Ino was smart enough to not say what he thought he was going to say.

“I see the way you look at him.” Ino narrowed his eyes. Sakura missed the expression on Tsunade’s face. He missed the way Tsunade’s lips parted for a moment, the way he searched for something to say for just a second instead of flat out denying it. “You want him, don’t you?”

It wasn’t something Tsunade thought about often. In fact, he went out of his way to keep the thoughts from entering his mind. Sakura was a beautiful kid--that’s what made Tsunade pick him. He didn’t have any other ulterior motive at the time aside from just feeling a connection to this kid. But that died off once Sakura found Ino--Tsunade had lost his son as quickly as he’d found him. He didn’t feel like the relationship he had with Sakura was that of a normal father and son.

Did other dads have to train themselves not to take in every roll of their son’s muscular frame as he moved about the house in the morning?

Perhaps that’s where the bulk of his drinking came from. Trying to block out thoughts that didn’t belong in his head.

“Face it, you don’t see him as a son at all.” Ino didn’t know when to stop talking. Tsunade may have been his target, but each word made Sakura’s heart twist a little more. “You just want him for sex.”

“No!” Tsunade snapped suddenly. “You don’t know anything about my family.”

“I bet you get off just thinking about him.”

Ino, what are you doing? Sakura wanted to tell him to stop--did he not see that there were _three_ people in the room. Sakura’s hands balled into fists and and through Ino’s blurred vision (he was pretty sure one of Tsunade’s punches had temporarily messed up his sight), he could see his friend trembling.

“He knows the truth,” Ino said. “He’s too angry to even look at you.”

“Shut up!” This time, Sakura was the one who yelled and Ino gave him a look of confusion. “Do either of you care about me at all?”

“Of course, I do.” Tsunade stepped towards him and Sakura held up a hand for him to stop.

“I don’t want to be near you.”

“Sakura, you can’t believe what this kid is saying. All he does is make up lies, you know that.” His dad looked at him with pleading eyes. “Just--tell me you believe me.”

Suddenly he could see it. The two of them--they weren’t concerned with him in the slightest. They just wanted to know that he saw things their way--that was all that mattered.

“You know what? Just--fuck you both,” He walked towards the front door, shoving past Tsunade deliberately. He couldn’t be here--this air reeks.

 

~~

 

He was drenched in sweat after an only twenty minutes--that’s how he measured his rage. Sakura wore a black muscle tank, pink sweat pants, and a bandana tied around his forehead to keep sweat from reaching his eyes. He tightened the bandages around his hands and drew in a deep breath.

In this apparel, one could see just how much of a boxer Sakura was. His body was perfectly sculpted the way a lightweight fight should be, not an ounce of fat and his muscles rolled easily under his skin. The music in his ears, almost enraging, blocked out the rambling of his corner-man – Asuma– he was glad because he couldn’t concentrate on his anger when all Asuma rambled about was how well he was doing.

He was training against Konohamaru, Asuma’s nephew. Frankly, Konohamaru wasn’t very good. Sakura assumed he didn’t actually want to box, but having an uncle as enthusiastic as Asuma didn’t give him much choice.

The bell sounded as soon as he took his earbuds out, and suddenly he was moving, ducking and jabbing and breathing – lesson one; always maintain your breathing – and protecting. Konohamaru had speed on his side, he was noticeably smaller than Sakura and that was his advantage. The two of them were able to dodge each other for about a minute before Sakura grew tired of waiting. Konohamaru had gotten him a couple of times. One strike was good enough to give him a nose bleed, though he welcomed the pain. After all, Konohamaru was the unfortunate soul who was facing down Sakura’s redirected rage.

About three minutes in, Sakura delivered the knockout punch. It was his second hit, a heavy blow that made the poor boy’s eyes roll into the back of his head. Sakura watched him go down without a hint of remorse.

Asuma didn’t do a good job of concealing his happiness with Sakura. Strange how he seemed to favor Sakura over his own blood.

“You’re the champ!” Asuma slapped him on the back. “You’re going all the way to the top.”

“I came here to be alone.” He didn’t even try to mask the irritation on his voice. “Can you let me go now?”

“Yeah, yeah--just promise to come see me this weekend. We've gotta talk about your next fight.”

Sakura didn't give a response before turning away from him and walking out of the ring. He slung his bag over his shoulder and stormed out. If he couldn't be alone here, of all places, where could he?

He felt a buzz and slowed down to search for his phone in the duffle bag. When he found it, a random phone number showed up with a text that read ‘ **Hey** ’.

Hey?

‘ _Who is this_ ’

‘ **Sasuke--do you remember giving me your number?** ’

‘ _Yeah, sorry. I've had a lot on my mind_.’

‘ **Sorry to hear. I'm not opposed to lending an open ear**.’

‘ _Thanks but right now I'm just looking for somewhere to cool off_ ’

‘ **I've got an indoor pool if that peaks your interest?** ’

‘’ _Sounds fancy_.’

‘ **No, just the pool. Nothing else in my house is worth a damn thing**.’

Sakura laughed at that. Spending some time soaking would be nice. ‘Send me the address?’

‘612 Wharf Avenue’

 

~~

 

He didn't expect Neji to be joining him. Sasuke didn't tell him beforehand, though maybe Sakura was wrong in assuming the two of them would be alone. Sasuke and Neji were rarely seen without each other.

“He doesn't want to talk about him,” Sasuke splashed water at Neji. The subject was Ino. More so how and what he was doing these days. Sasuke gave Sakura an apologetic look once Neji's back was turned.

“I'm just trying to spark conversation.” He shrugged. “But if you don't want to, we'll just talk about me.”

“How's that different than any other day?” Sasuke replied.

“Oh please, you know your life revolves around me.”

Sasuke shrugged in response. Before his eyes landed on Sakura just as he was taking off his shirt. And the sight was phenomenal. He took in every curve of the other boy’s muscles and instinctively licked his lips.

Fuck, his abs.

“See something you like?” Neji whispered in his ear knowingly. In his mind, Sasuke had invited Sakura over for a threesome. After all, this was usually how they started. And ‘usually’ roughly translates into twice. Sasuke learned quickly that he didn't like sharing. And just looking at Sakura, he'd definitely want him to himself.

“Keep your hands off of him.” Sasuke tried to throw a playful tone in there but it came out the exact way he didn't want it to. And Neji arched an eyebrow.

“Oh? Why? Am I already too big of a slut to handle?” He narrowed his eyes.

“Because he's mine,” he said without missing a beat and Neji turned to face him fully.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me. Sakura is mine. I'm finished with you.” He kept his eyes on the boy swimming towards them from the far side of the pool. “So, you can fuck both Naruto and Ino at the same time.”

“So, that's what this is about?” Neji was raising his voice by now and Sasuke was sure Sakura could hear him. Good, he wanted him to hear. “Are you jealous that I've slept with other guys? I don't remember ever agreeing to be your boyfriend in the first place. I can sleep with whoever I want. Ino, Naruto, Itachi--”

“You slept with Naruto?” Sakura had finally reached them.

Neji looked at him in surprise. “Um--yes, but you two weren't together.”

Sasuke smirked but said nothing. He could keep the night of the party in his arsenal for a long time. Just knowing Neji hooked up with Naruto would tank his chances of getting anywhere with Sakura. Mainly because Sakura would start to wonder if Neji was the reason Naruto stopped talking to him.

Sakura had to ask “how many times?” Sasuke was shocked by that question.

“It was only once.”

Now that was a lie. Tsk, tsk, Neji. Are you forgetting the night of the party? You and Naruto ran upstairs…”

“Wait, the party I was drugged at?” Sakura asked with anger threatening to break through in his voice. “You had sex with him that night?”

Well, so much for the best moment. Sasuke moved out of the way so Sakura had a clear path to Neji.

“We didn't finish, so I don't count it.” Neji didn't sound sorry. “Besides, you were off with Temari and--”

“What?” If Naruto wasn't actually with him the whole night then that would mean he had been in more of a dangerous situation than he thought. And the thought started to make him sick. What was done to him during the time he had lost?

Sasuke saw the worry on Sakura's face.

“Leave,” he told Neji.

“Excuse me?” Neji scoffed. “I have more of a right to be here than him.”

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave.” Sasuke was more referring to the way Sakura seemed to be reddening with what seemed to be anger. He was admittedly curious about a potential fight between the two of them. It would do Neji well to get punched in the face--he needed to be taken down a peg. But that'd also mean the two of them would be fighting over that idiot.

“Fine.” Neji had better things to do, anyway. He lifted himself out of the pool and didn’t bother to dry himself off. “Have fun with each other--I’ll tell Naruto you said hi.”

Sakura stopped himself from saying anything to that. The sooner Neji left, the better.

He looked to Sasuke after Neji left and asked the question that had popped into his head a few seconds back.

“And where were you when they were doing disappearing off together?”

“Neji and I argued about it afterwards. He claimed you and Naruto had just agreed to stop seeing each other. Not a fantastic reason, but it’s all I’ve got.” He eyed Sakura for a moment before reaching into his cooler. “I realize this probably wasn’t your idea of cooling down.”

“Better than other places.”

“How about a beer?” He held a cold one out to Sakura. “It’s even still sealed.”

Sakura took it and opened it immediately. “I could have lived without that.” He sighed and tried his best to let the irritation get swept away.

“Now you see what I was talking about.”

“How can you be friends with him?” Sakura squared his jaw as he heard a door slam further in the house.

Sasuke shrugged. “How can you be friends with Ino?”

Sakura nodded. “Point taken. I never understood why you two hate each other so much--what happened?”

If it would take Sakura’s attention off what just happened, what could it hurt? “He’s just always rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t like how he’s got to be in charge of everything.” The whole school had always been under the impression that Ino was this distant badboy. Sasuke bit back a scoff at that. Ino was a control freak--Sasuke could see the instability in his eyes.

And then there was the rejection.

Sasuke opened a beer for himself and downed half of it before he started talking again. “He even seems like he’s trying to control you sometimes.”

Sakura froze with the brim of the beer touching his lips. “What?”

“Nothing,” he shook his head quickly. “It’s nothing.”

“No.” Sakura drifted towards him. Did Sasuke really see it, too? “What is it that you mean?”

“It’s just--it’s hard for anyone else to talk to you,” he said. “Ino does a pretty good job of warding other guys off--if he doesn’t take them for himself.”

Sakura finished his beer and Sasuke offered him another.

“Haven’t you always thought it was weird how popular you were, but no one ever tried to hang out with you? Ino is pretty much your guard dog.”

“Well, you’re hanging out with me.”

“Because I’m not afraid of Ino. At least, not enough to keep me away from you.”

At that, Sakura felt himself blushing. Something about the way Sasuke spoke to him made him look away with a slight smile.

“Speaking of which--I was hoping we could do something else some time.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Something that doesn’t involve revealing skeletons in the closet.”

“You mean you didn’t like that?”

“I like to wait till the fourth date before revealing how many people I’ve killed,” Sasuke chuckled.

Date.

Did he say date? Sakura hadn’t thought about it--but the two of them were alone right now. Did this count as a date?

“What did you want to do?” Sakura asked, clearing his throat.

“Well, there’s a winter festival going on--my brother and a few friends were going.”

“I’ve never been.”

“It’s not terrible--the food is disgusting and interesting.” Sasuke finished his drink. “But you’ll have a good time.”

“Then I’m in.”

“Cool. I’ll pick you up on Friday at six.”

 

~~

 

“Can we talk?” Tsunade tried to keep his voice from sounding too tired. It had been three days since Sakura spoke to him. While he hadn’t seen Ino around the house, Sakura had been avoiding him as well. At first, he was able to brush it off with a couple dozen beers. But the alcohol dried up and he was left with heavy bags under his eyes and a pit in his stomach. So, he dragged himself up to his son’s room in order to relieve it some way.

“I’m sleeping,” Sakura groaned from inside.

“Sakura, please.”

After a few moments, the bedroom door opened and Sakura appeared in the doorway. He was only wearing a pair of pajama pants. Tsunade kept his eyes on Sakura’s to make sure he wouldn’t look anywhere he shouldn’t.

“What do you want?” Sakura asked.

“We need to talk about this.” Tsunade walked in once Sakura went back to his desk. He’d never felt so nervous to be in a room in his own home. He hesitated before sitting on the bed. “I want you to know that I adopted you because I love you. No other reason.”

“We don’t have to do this, dad.”

“We do. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. I love you, Sakura.” As he said the words, Sakura stretched out his limbs and Tsunade clenched his jaw. There was a long pause in which he searched for the next thing to say while diverting his eyes from the boy’ body. “Have I ever told you about your grandfather?”

Sakura sat up in surprise. His dad never talked about the family. As far as Sakura knew, they were all either dead or far away.

“He was a strange man, always getting over emotional. My mother said--”

“You had a mom?” Sakura definitely hadn't known that. To put it simply, girls were quite rare. “You never told me that.”

“Didn't think it mattered.” Tsunade brushed the subject. “She said he cried for months when he was pregnant with me.”

“Sounds about right.”

“My mother didn't stay in our lives long. I think she and my brother died when I was twelve. My dad stopped crying after that.” At this point, Sakura didn't know where he was going with this. “But he started letting me sleep in his bed.”

Sakura pulled his eyebrows together.

“That's around the age I started going through puberty--you know how that is. My dad offered to help me through it.”

“Dad...what are you--”

“If you ever think I would lay a finger on you in the way he did to me, you're mistaken. I know the pain that causes a child.” Tsunade locked his hands together between his knees. “I don't want you to ever be afraid that I'll do something like that to you, no matter what happens.”

He sighed and nodded. “I know that, dad.”

“Are you sure? I know how close you are with Ino.”

“We haven't talked.”

“Oh. I guess that's for the best. He's not a good influence. I know you don't like to hear that--”

“No, it's true. I'll make new friends. Ones with some common sense.”

Tsunade smiled. “That's my boy. Why don't we order a pizza and watch a movie? You pick the best horror movies.”

“Yeah--let me get dressed and I'll be down in a second.”

 

~~

 

“Where did you go, boy?!” The man trudged through the halls and Ino pulled his knees into his chest as he stared out of a crack in the cupboard. This was the dumbest spot, but Jiraiya wouldn't think to look for him there.

He smelled like alcohol. He always smelled like fucking alcohol. That's what made Ino start to hate Tsunade after a while. His scent reminded him of the monster that lived in his house when his father wasn't home. His mother was seeing Jiraiya on the side. Ino kept the man a secret from his friends. No one knew who he was or what he did to him.

And he did a lot.

It started off with Ino being a child and suddenly, he began to feel uncomfortable with the way this stranger would rest his hand on Ino’s backside when his mother wasn't looking or the way Jiraiya would insist on bouncing him in his lap nearly every day till he was well past too big for it.

“Come say hi to daddy.” He slurred his words and Ino fought back the urge to jump out and sock him in the nose. But in his condition, he was in no position to fight. Tsunade had really done a number on him the other day.

_You're not my father. My father would kill you if he knew what you've done to me._

Jiraiya waltzed into the kitchen and Ino realized he was at eye level with the man’s crotch. He squared his jaw and watched as he paced around.

 _I'll be damned if this drunken slob is going to pass out on top of me again_.

He had nowhere to go this time.  Usually he could sleep at Sakura's on nights like these. He'd just claim he was lonely or something. To be honest, right now he kind of was.

“Should I be speaking to you like a man? Because men don't hit.” Jiraiya smirked. “Come out.”

Ino held his breath.

“We've got all night, Ino.”

And he could hide in this cupboard all night if he had to. But looking at the way Jiraiya was circling the kitchen, he didn't think he'd last that long.

When the man finally opened his cabinet, he sprung out and tried to run. Jiraiya caught him easily and slung him into the counter.

“Why're you hiding from me?” Jiraiya leaned forward and took a big whiff of Ino’s hair, resting his hand on his small waist. “Don't you want me?”

“I want you to leave.”

“I live here, boy.” Ino hated being called that. He hated the way Jiraiya's hungry eyes raked his body as if he were just a piece of meat. Rough hands ripped at the fabric of Ino’s pajama bottoms and yanked them down. “Just sit back. Let me show you what a daddy's love is.”

Ino wouldn't believe this. He had a father and while he hadn't spent much time with him, he knew he wouldn't do this. This wasn't how you showed your child love. Ino opened his mouth to say something but then a warm wetness engulfed his exposed member and he shuddered.

Jiraiya loved this part, making the boy literally melt in his mouth. Ino fought to keep from groaning, but he was rocking his hips in a way that Jiraiya recognized all too well.

He got hard in Jiraiya’s mouth and the older man stood up finally. He stared at Ino as he pushed down his own pants.

“You know what to do,” the older man growled, bending over the counter. Ino stood behind him and swallowed as he got into position.

“Yeah,” he tried to keep his voice from cracking. “I got it.”

 

~~

 

“This is for you.” Sasuke handed it to Sakura and at first, the pink haired boy looked at it skeptically. Did he really just hand him a stuffed slug?

“Other guys tend to go with dogs or bears.”

“Well, you got a slug.” Sasuke smirked and Sakura smiled back.

“Aren't you two adorable?” Itachi's friend Deidara stepped in between them. He'd been fawning all night over the two of them. Sasuke hadn't been expecting in, but it was helping his cause.

“Leave them alone.” Itachi nudged Deidara forward. Sasuke was around sixty percent sure they were sleeping together at this point.

Sasuke shrugged. “I think we're cute, too.”

Sakura looked at him in surprise. “You do?”

“Don't you?” He looked ahead at the rest of the group. “That's why we're here, right?”

“What do you mean?”

Sasuke stopped in his tracks and pulled his most convincing worried look. “I was under the impression that this was a date.”

Sakura blushed. Was that really what they'd call it? He didn't think the two of them, of all people, would end up on a date with one another.

“Don't worry, I won't try to kiss you after I drop you off.”

They spent three hours at the festival. Sakura had more fun that night than he had in weeks. The ended up losing track of Itachi and his friends, but Sasuke didn't plan to stay with them for long, anyway. He took Sakura to a nearby cafe after they chose to leave.

“Do you want anything?” Sasuke asked as they walked up to the counter.

“Just some hot chocolate is fine.”

“Coming right up. Why don't you find us some seats?”

 _So, he's buying? I guess this really is a date._ Sasuke hadn't let him pay for a single thing the whole night. Sakura didn't mind it, but what did he expect in return? He found an empty booth and slid inside, peeling off his jacket.

He hated being skeptical of people. It was always just his paranoia--but Ino had a hand in it as well.

 _I wonder if he's okay_.

Sakura avoided Ino as best as he could, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried. He still cared for him…

He looked up when he saw a blur of orange standing above him. Green eyes locked with blue and Sakura's mouth went dry.

“Hey…” Naruto gave him a small smile. He was wearing one of the employee aprons around his waist. “Didn't know you came here.”

“You work here.” Sakura spoke as if it were barely registering to him.

“I just started, actually. This is my third shift.” His voice going lighter, a little more relaxed. “What brings you out here so late?”

“I'm...actually here with someone.” Why was he blushing?

Naruto glanced up at the counter and noticed Sasuke talking to his coworker. There was a surge of familiar anger for a second and he had to take a moment to breathe deep--just like his therapist told him. Sakura was at the place he worked--and he was with Sasuke. Naruto would have to accept that.

“I see” was his only response before clearing his throat. “Well, how have you been?”

Was that really all he had to say? “Good,” Sakura said shortly. “How’ve you been? I hear you’ve been spending time with Neji.”

Figures he’d know about that. It was no secret by now that Sasuke was out to get him. He didn’t mean in a ‘ruin his life’ kind of way--but he didn’t like him being around Neji. Truth be told, if Naruto knew what this would have cost him before, he wouldn’t have laid a finger on Neji.

“So, you found out.” He lowered his eyes.

Sakura didn’t say anything back. He didn’t want Naruto to stick around for another second.

“Here’s your hot chocolate.” Sasuke appeared and slipped the mug in front of Sakura before casting a dark look Naruto’s way. “Can I help you?”

“We were just talking while you were gone,” Sakura said quickly.

Sasuke held eye contact with Naruto for a moment, sizing him up as discreetly as he could. With the shrug of one shoulder, he sat down across from Sakura and said “that’s fine--don’t let me stop you.” He gestured towards the seat next to Sakura. “Do you have time to sit?”

“I…” Naruto looked to Sakura. He didn’t think that was a good idea, but he couldn’t fix his lips to decline. There had to be some reason for Sasuke inviting him to sit. He had some sort of motive--some trick up his sleeve. But he took the bait anyway, lowering himself to sit next to Sakura.

“So, have you been working all night?” Sasuke raised his mug to his lips and eyed Naruto.

“The past six hours. I get off at midnight.”

“So, you’ve only got an hour left. That’s not so bad.” The Uchiha smirked and Naruto held his breath for some sort of ball to be dropped. “If you’re not busy, we’re going back to my place after this to hang out with my brother and his friends. You’re welcome to stop by.”

At that, both boys on the other side of the table tried to mask their surprise.

“It’s been a long day, I’m probably just going to turn in after I get off. But thanks for the offer.” Naruto pursed his lips.

“I don’t recall agreeing with going back to your house,” Sakura said.

“Well, I was hoping,” Sasuke shrugged. “Not for any funny business, obviously. But my brother’s friends like you.”

“That’s good to know.” It felt awkward to smile with Naruto sitting right there.

“Um...I should really be getting back to work,” Naruto said as he stood again. “I’ll catch you two around. Enjoy your night.”

He ducked away from them before Sakura could say anything. He went directly to the back of the cafe where no one else was and shut himself in the walk-in freezer.

“Fuck!” Naruto let out the yell with his hand carding through his hair before his fist flew into the metal wall. They were on a date. They were on a fucking date and Sakura was going back to Sasuke’s house afterwards. His chances at getting him back were slipping right in front of him. And he couldn’t do anything but watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To explain how the universe works, girls are really rare (though they still exist). Most babies born are boys and everyone's got the chance at becoming pregnant and getting people pregnant. It's just a little more difficult for men to get pregnant without fertility treatments, but some times unexpected pregnancies happen.


	5. Week Five

“You want it?” Sasuke held out his blueberry muffin to Sakura. It was just the two of them at lunch, but Tenten had stopped by to talk to Sasuke for a minute. From a distance, people started to gossip about the two boys. One guy would /talk about how Sakura hadn't say with Ino in a week and another guy would talk about how they looked like a couple the way they shared food.

“It's yours,” Sakura said.

“You're the one with the sweet tooth.” He smiled and set the muffin on a napkin. “Go ahead.”

Sakura looked around the courtyard. Part of him wanted to sit inside, but Sasuke opted for sitting out in the open. It was his way of silently announcing to the school that he'd claimed the school’s boxer as his own.

People were definitely talking about them. He saw the way Shikamaru and Chouji watched them--was this really a surprise?

“People are staring at us,” Sakura said.

Sasuke nodded in response. “Does that surprise you?”

“Why shouldn't it?”

Sasuke laughed. “Man, you really are blind to how everyone sees you. They're staring because no one’s seen you with anyone but Ino for years. It's like--”

“Like I got a new boyfriend,” Sakura finished. That's exactly what this seemed like.right now. He hadn’t noticed just how close he and Sasuke were sitting or the fact that they were openly sharing food. People weren’t dumb--they could pick up one the little things like that.

“Does it bother you?” Sasuke’s voice grabbed Sakura’s attention. “I could always set them straight if it means that much.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

Sasuke shook his head no. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re boyfriend-material.”

“Boyfriend-material?”

He smiled. “So says my brother and his friends. You made a really good impression on them. Deidara asked if you’ll be coming around often. He also asked if we were talking.”

“Talking? Like--dating?”

“Aren’t we? That’s what we did this weekend, wasn’t it?”

He had a point. They came to some sort of agreement that this weekend was a little more than just hanging out. Without Sakura catching on, Sasuke turned it into a date. And a pretty good one at that.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to be someone’s boyfriend to date them,” Sasuke said. “I don’t mind you seeing other guys. I just want to see more of you.”

Sakura picked up the muffin between them. “Are you...interested in me?”

Sasuke threw his head back and laughed. “Are you just now catching on?”

 

~~

 

“What are you planning?” Tenten wasn’t blind. He had known Sasuke since before they could walk and as a result, he knew that he wouldn’t have gotten this close to Sakura so quickly without some sort of motivation. “You’re using Sakura for something.”

“Who let you in?” Sasuke didn’t bother looking up from his desk.

“Itachi was on his way out. Why’re you doing this?”

“Why’re you on my back?”

“Because I know you.” Tenten was Sasuke’s other half, to put in simply. Not in any romantic sense, nor in a familial sense. But it seemed that every ounce of morals that Sasuke was missing were embedded in Tenten’s being. He was the voice of reason. And that’s why Sasuke had been avoiding him. “Sasuke, you know this isn’t right.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re using him.”

“Or maybe I actually do like him.” Sasuke turned in his chair and looked at his friend. That was a sticky subject. Was Sasuke attracted to Sakura? Definitely. But he still had his eyes on his motive. Madara taught him to stick with his goals.

He’d come to realize that getting close to Sakura was covering nearly all of his bases. Both Naruto and Ino were clearly interested in Sakura and he could dangle him in front of their faces whenever he wanted. And then there was Neji--he was trying to pretend he’d moved on, but Sasuke recognized that pout anywhere. And if he played his cards right, he’d get laid in no time…

“Do you like him, Sasuke? Or is this just another game to you?” Tenten hopped up on the desk. “Don’t forget what happened with Haku. This universe will come and bite you in the ass if you’re lying.”

Haku was a different situation. Sasuke had underestimated just how insane Zabuza was. But Ino couldn’t do a thing to him.

“I remember,” he sighed. “Are you done?”

“Yeah...now, that’s not all I came over here for.”

‘Great.”

“I think you should leave Naruto alone, too.” At that, Sasuke furrowed his eyes. Tenten scratched his head. “Hear me out. You’re hurting him.”

“Since when do you care about him?”

Tenten smirked in response. “Well, I care about everybody. Somebody’s got to if you won’t.” He reached out and ruffled the Uchiha’s hair. Rather than slapping his hand away, Sasuke sank lower into his seat. “Naruto drew the short end of the stick in life. He really likes Sakura and--”

“He cheated on him on their second date, he must not like him enough.”

“I think that’s something the two of them should work out. But you’re not going to let that happen, are you?”

Sasuke grinned. “There are other boys. Naruto will be fine.” After Sasuke was done playing with him, that is.

“I’m not getting through to you, am I?”

“Go ahead and keep trying.”

“I’m just saying, Sasuke. You can’t keep this up for long. Something’s going to happen and you’ll get what’s coming to you. That’s how karma works.”

“Whatever. Listen, I’ve got a test to study for. Can you leave?” He hated when Tenten lectured him like this. He hadn’t even really done anything to Sakura, yet. If Tenten was looking for something to worry about, Sasuke could very well give it to him. Tenten left reluctantly, his fingers threading through his long hair.

Sasuke took it upon himself to text Sakura asking if he wanted to come over tomorrow after school.

 

~~

 

“It’s just me and Itachi.” Sasuke walked through the home and Sakura couldn’t believe it was only the two of them. “My uncle is on a business trip for the next two weeks. Make yourself at home. Itachi usually gets out of classes and goes straight to Deidara’s place, so we’ve got some time before he gets home.”

“I didn’t know your house was this big on the inside,” Sakura looked around. He’d only been on the first floor to get to the pool, but after realizing there were three other floors he had yet to discover, he was beginning to think Sasuke had more money than he was letting on.

“Personally, I think it’s too much.”

“It’s nice.”

He smiled. “Thanks. I don’t get to have a lot of people over, so I forget about that initial shock of seeing it.”

“You could have parties in this place.”

“Could I?” He looked around with a false look of surprise. He’d had tons of parties here, he just neglected to invite anyone from his school. The only time he’d throw a party at his own place was to see if he could get laid. “Well, maybe I could. Halloween’s coming up soon, isn’t it?”

“Halloween party…” Sakura smiled. “That’d be cool.”

“Then I’ll do it. As long as you agree to be my date.” Sasuke sat on the couch and Sakura followed.

“What happened to being able to see other people?” The pink haired boy chuckled. “What if I wanted to go with someone else?”

“That’s why I asked you first. I didn’t want to take any chances. If I didn’t, you’d definitely be walking through that door with another guy on your arm. I can’t let that happen in my own house.”

“Then I’d be happy to go with you.” Sakura...giggled? That was weird, even for him. When he looked up, he noticed Sasuke staring at him intently. “What?”

“Nothing,” he tore his eyes away with a smirk. “You’re just cute.”

“Ah, thanks...so, what did you want me to come over for?”

“Well--it was actually to talk. About Naruto.” Sasuke took in Sakura’s body language at the mention of the name...the way he tensed up and winced. The Uchiha cleared his throat before he spoke. “I understand you and him had a thing for a couple of days. While that’s not long by some people’s measurements, I look at the days I’ve spent with you and I feel like it’s been longer. So, I understand that you may still have a soft spot for him. I think you should use that to your advantage and try to mend things with him.”

Sakura furrowed his eyebrows. “You just asked me on another date and you want me to go out with Naruto, again?”

“No, that’s not what I’m suggesting--I just think you make a good friend for him. He deserves at least that, doesn’t he?”

“Did he talk to you?”

“Technically no...but I know he’d appreciate just talking with you.”

“I’m not really the one to make that call,” Sakura huffed. “Naruto’s been avoiding me since that party. At first I thought it was something I’d done, but obviously that wasn’t the case. If he wanted to speak to me, he could have.”

“He thought you were too good for him.” Sasuke reached over and rested his hand on Sakura’s. “I can’t blame him.”

“Sasuke, I can’t.”

“Can’t?” Sasuke’s other hand hooked under Sakura’s chin and he guided his attention towards him. When green eyes met black ones, Sakura visibly exhaled and his eyes lowered to Sasuke’s lips. “Or won’t?” He was leaning forward, now. They both were. Sasuke’s lips brushed Sakura’s and Sakura felt a surge of electricity shoot through him.

The kiss was soft. It was Sakura’s first kiss, in fact, and it was nothing more than a simple peck on the lips followed by an “it’ll be fine” from Sasuke.

“Just talk to him. Alright?” He smoothed a hand through Sakura’s hair and looked in his eyes. He recognized that look. Sakura was hooked.

 

~~

 

“I thought you wanted him to sleep over?” Sasori hadn’t met Sakura, but he’d heard more than enough about him from Deidara. He was curious to see what he was like, but Sasuke knew better than to have the two of them in the same room. Sasori was more unforgiving than Neji. He had sex with teachers, people in relationships, parents--it didn’t matter.

“Things changed.” Sasuke pushed Sasori’s head down, making him engulf his straining cock. He let out a sigh and leaned his head back. He’d been trying to hide this hard-on for hours. As soon as Sakura left, Sasuke called Sasori to help take care of him. “Just know that this is a one-time thing. This won’t happen again after tonight.”

Sasori couldn’t speak with the dick in his mouth, but that’s how Sasuke liked him. After a few seconds, Sasori pulled his head back and looked up at Sasori without so much as gagging. Sasuke could swear he didn’t want to know what happened to Sasori that made him so slutty. No one held sex as such a high priority than him. As soon as Sasuke called him, he put down his textbook and ran over without asking questions.

“I'm having a Halloween party,” Sasuke said. Sasori licked his lips before running his tongue across the tip of Sasuke. “Tell your school.”

“Social media would be more effective.”

“I'm covering all of my bases.” Sasuke groaned when Sasori’s mouth covered him again. He leaned back in his seat and enjoyed the session, whipping out his phone to make a call.

“Hello?” Naruto sounded confused when he answered the phone. It made sense--he only had Sasuke's number because Neji would call Him from Sasuke's phone often times. Having each otherwise number just seemed like an obligation because of Neji.

“You busy on Halloween?” Sasuke asked him, shoving Sasori completely down on his head and snickering when he heard the noise he made.

“Um--why?”

“Because I'm having a party. I need a little help setting up and I'm kind of short handed. Mind lending a hand?”

What could he say to that? Naruto didn't like Sasuke. He didn't want to be around him or speak to him--and he assumed Sasuke had some distaste for him too if what happened with Sakura was any indication.

But...that would mean Sakura would probably be there. Maybe this could be his second chance?

“Yeah, no problem,” Naruto heard himself say. “I'll help.”

“Atta boy!” Sasuke’s voice was drenched in pep. “And...this isn’t a plus-one invitation.”

“So, no Neji, then.”

“Exactly.”

Naruto didn’t mind that. Neji was all over him these days, it was weird. They’d been friends at first. He helped Naruto talk to guys and now he was spending all of his time trying to get in his pants.

“Yeah--that’s fine. Text me with details.” As soon as Naruto hung up, he tossed his phone on the bed and let his body drop with a tired sigh. Another day at the gym had passed by--seems like that’s all he’s been doing for the past week. He heard Sakura trained at the gym sometimes and that drove him to check it out--maybe in hopes of seeing him again.

But he hadn’t figured out what he would say to him if he ever did come face to face with him. He’d heard that Sakura was a quality fighter--perhaps one of the best, even. Naruto could hold his own, but probably not against someone who trained so hard in this area. If he said the wrong thing, Sakura could smash his face in, to say the least.

He ran a hand through his damp hair. _What game is Sasuke playing, though? There’s no way he’d be this nice to me without something up his sleeve._ Naruto would have to keep his guard up around him. Definitely.

 

~~

 

Sasuke wanted to get started on party planning early. Halloween was in two weeks and he still had to make orders and pick out costumes. Historically, he’d always been the one to look at that particular night as a children’s holiday. He never went around asking for candy, he never dressed up, and he hated going to the parties--but this year was different. He’d have a party in his house and a front row seat to torturing Naruto, Ino, and Neji. He’d officially uninvited Neji from his part to ensure he’d show up, just to spite him. As for Ino--he reached out to someone else to get a hold of him.

“So, you’ll come?” Sasuke asked into the phone.

“Can I bring a date?” Hinata asked in return.

Sasuke smirked at that and ran his tongue along his lips before saying  “You can bring whoever you’d like, Hinata.”

“Cool, then I’ll spread the word.”

“Okay.” He walked into the living room as he hung up. It was just Naruto on the couch trying his best to not look too uncomfortable. He held the glass of wine nervously in his hands and when Sasuke came back in, he tensed. “I think there should be a theme.”

“Hm?” Naruto raised his eyebrows.

“Like a Murder Mystery theme--I hate haunted houses.” He sat across from Naruto and picked up his drink. “We'll need candles.”

“You want your home littered with candles while drunk teenagers tumble through?”

Sasuke paused with a lingering smirk. “You think ahead. I see why Sakura talks about you so much.”

“What?” Naruto's head snapped up quickly. “He talks about me.”

“I don't know what your relationship with him was like, but you made a good first impression. He's always comparing me to you--though I think I might be a little better,” Sasuke chuckled.

“Are you two…?”

“Dating?” Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “It's nothing serious. We just go places and spend time together. I never thought I'd end up spending most of my time around him.”

Sasuke saw the look on Naruto's face and knew he wanted to ask more. He wanted to know about his chances with Sakura. Had Sasuke had sex with him? Were they planning on seeing more of each other? The Uchiha licked his lips as he thought of all of the answers he could give. He could tell him anything and just watch him squirm. But that wasn't part of the game.

“Are you alright?” Sasuke asked.

“Yeah. I'm fine--is anyone else coming tonight?”

“I could invite someone. Any requests?”

Naruto pursed his lips and blushed. “Just someone creative. That's what you're goin’ for, right?”

“Right--I've got someone in mind.” He scrolled through his contacts and texted Deidara. As annoying as he was, he would fawn over Sasuke and Sakura just the right amount to get under Naruto's skin without making him leave too soon.

 

~~

 

“Can we talk?” Ino stood in front of Tsunade and he looked completely different than before. His eyes were on the his shoes and his voice lacked any real base. The older man narrowed his eyes and stepped aside, allowing the boy into his home.

“Sakura will be back in an hour or two. He's out with some boy.”

“That's okay.” Ino swallowed the lump in his throat and tried his best to ignore the twinge in his heart at the mention of Sakura being with someone. “This is between us. I wanted to apologize. I disrespected you in your own home. That was wrong of me.”

Tsunade's grip tightened on his beer. He noticed something different about the way he walked too. He had a slight limp. Did Tsunade do that to him?

“Your leg okay?” He questioned.

“Yeah,” Ino said quickly. “It's fine. Just...slept on it the wrong away. Anyway, I wanted to know if there was any way I could make this up to you? Show you I'm sorry?”

Oh, that brought Tsunade's mind to a dark place. What would he do with an apologetic, attractive young man offering him anything he wanted? He'd had just enough beers in his system to start considering it, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe he could have done this to Ino last week when he was still a little shit, but now he just seemed--hurt.

“Did something happen to you, Ino?” Tsunade narrowed his eyes. He knew the boy's home situation wasn't the most stable--he'd always figured that's why Ino and Sakura fit each other so well. His father was never home and there were rumors around town that she was seeing Jiraiya--and Tsunade had seen enough of him in the underground clubs he went to in the past to know he was shady.

“I'm okay.”

The older man sighed and walked to the fridge. He pulled out a beer and tossed it to Ino.

“Sit down--you look like you need that.”

Ino smiled a little bit too grateful. His mother was working again--he was stuck with Jiraiya. The man had touched him again. The only thing that felt worse than getting touching by that monster was the feeling of cumming _hard_ down his throat to show just how good his sloppy blowjob felt. He was able to sneak from his window afterwards.

“So, how's your mom?” Tsunade asked.

Ino didn't know how to answer that aside from a timid “good”. Tsunade had spoken to his mom last week, what could be new since then?

“She still seeing Jiraiya?”

That question caused a reaction. I flinch that Tsunade noticed immediately and he reached for the entire twenty four pack of beer.

“I remember when we were young--he was the sketchiest son of a bitch I'd ever met. Always in my circles, but he never played. He just scoped out the boys…”

“He's scum.”

“Is this what those accusations were about?” Tsunade asked and he watched as Ino chugged his first beer and reached for the second just at the mere mention of the subject.

“I'm sorry about that.”

“I just want to know.”

“No.”

“Ino.” Tsunade wasn't going to play this child’s game. He hooked his finger under his chin and forced him to look him in the eye. “Don't lie to me. We can get you help.”

“I'm sorry, I just…” How could he tell him he didn't trust him without sounding like a dick? It would take more than this one beer to change his perception of Tsunade as the evil father--he just wasn't as entirely convinced about the incestuous undertones of the situation. “I haven't been getting any sleep.”

“Why not?”

Ino chose not to answer the question, instead shaking his head as he tossed back the second beer. Tsunade sighed in response and nodded. So, that's how it's gonna be. He’d always known the younger boy was sneaking into his liquor and beer cabinet when he wasn’t around. He wasn’t a fool. Judging by how much was always missing when Ino was around compared to when he wasn’t around, Tsunade summed up that the boy could hold his alcohol pretty well.

“How’s Sakura been?”

Tsunade shrugged. “He’d been fine. As fine as he can be without you around. He missed you.” The lie tasted sour on his tongue. In his opinion, Sakura seemed happier without Ino around than he ever did with him.

“I miss him, too.” Ino sighed. “It's a pain being home so much.”

Tsunade wasn't surprised Ino had no close friends aside from his son. It took a special kind of person to find his laziness and rudeness appealing.

They sat and drank for another hour or so before the beers started to really take their toll. The air of the room shifted to a more comfortable one once they two men get a dozen or so bets between them.

Tsunade looked down at his watch. “Guess Sakura is running late.”

“He's with Sasuke,” Ino said with a distaste that made Tsunade chuckle. “He's probably on his back by now.”

“That's my son you're talking about,” Tsunade grinned. “And he's got more self control than that.”

Ino could vouch for that. He'd been sleeping in Sakura's bed for years and they'd never even gotten past cuddling. If Sasuke got farther than he ever did in just a week, he'd--he'd bite his tongue. It was his jealousy that drove Sakura away in the first place. How could he expect for it to bring him back?

“I guess you're right.” Ino reached for another beer before Tsunade caught his wrist.

“I think you've had enough.”

“Really?” Ino snorted at that. He'd never seen him at a keg party. “I feel fine.”

“I can't send you home smashed.”

Ino's jaw clenched at that. He hadn't thought about going back home, though that seemed like the most realistic thing to do. Jiraiya was probably waiting for him now--waiting to do things to him as soon as he walked through the door.

He wasn't going home, though. He'd run anywhere before there.

“You can always stay in the guest room, you know that.” Tsunade was an asshole, he'd admit that. But he wasn't cruel. He wouldn't send this boy back to a home with Jiraiya after all of those drinks--it'd be like sending a wounded zebra into the lion’s den.

“Are you sure?”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“Well, you beat the shit out of me last week.”

Tsunade threw his head back and laughed. “I did, didn't I? But you seem like you learned from it. I don't think I'll have more to worry about.”

Ino thought he caught a wink from the older man. _No...it's just my imagination_. He smiled and nodded gratefully. “Thank you.”

Tsunade smiled back and a thought crossed his mind. Ino seemed to bring out the worst in Sakura, but did the same go for the other way around?

 

~~

“You're letting him stay here?” Sakura was back. And he was pissed. What else was he supposed to feel when he comes back and sees his dad cozying up to his former best friend on the couch. As soon as he stepped in, the two of them have him the _sorriest_ look. As if they couldn't figure out just how they'd gotten so close. Sakura could clearly see the empty beer box on the table. “Why wouldn't you ask me, first?”

“This is my house, too. I don't need your permission to have guests and I don't appreciate your tone.” Tsunade tried to pull the dad-voice but he was in only his boxers and Sakura was shaking too badly for his dad's words to actually get through to him. Sasuke chose now as the moment to rest his hand on Sakura's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

“Let's just get upstairs, Sakura,” he muttered. He made brief eye contact with Ino and gave him a wicked grin before nudging the pink haired boy towards the stairs.

Tsunade noticed how unearthed Ino was by the encounter when he was still staring at the stairs when Sakura’s bedroom door closed. It was then that a thought registered to him.

“You love him, don’t you?”

Ino’s shoulders dropped at the words and he turned his head towards the man. He was good at managing his emotions most of the time--when Sakura wasn't around. It was like he was some kind of trigger.

He gave him a shrug in response.

“You're a good kid.” Tsunade picked up another beer. “You’ll find a guy.”

“It’s not really about that,” Ino scoffed. “Sakura’s different. He’s--” His eyes went back to the stairs. He didn’t want to talk about this with Sasuke Uchiha in the house. Anything he said out loud had the potential to be used against him.

He sat down on the couch, right next to Tsunade and leaned his head back.

“I don’t trust him.”

“Hm?” Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

“Sasuke. I don’t trust him with Sakura. But if I say something about it, he’ll just say I’m jealous. But I know Sasuke’s bad news--really bad news.”

“Is he?”

“He asked me for sex a couple of weeks ago.” Ino rolled his eyes. “I said no--then he started going for Sakura.”

“You don’t think Sakura has the potential to attract a handsome guy on his own?”

“He attracted me, didn’t he?” Ino chuckled.

 

“He’s a fucking dick, he only thinks about himself.” Sakura paced back and forth in his bedroom. He needed something to hit--something to throw or break. _Fuck, I need to get back to the gym. I need to get out of here_.

“You can sleep at my place,” Sasuke said. “It’s times like these that having three guest rooms comes in handy.”

“I think I just need to be alone.”

“I think you need company.” Sasuke chose to walk towards him and rest his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Come on, pack you bag for a few days if you want.”

Sakura’s eyes fell to Sasuke’s hand and he swallowed before the Uchiha pressed their foreheads together. It never registered to Sakura how much of a height difference there was between the two of them. Sakura was at least an inch taller than Sasuke with broader shoulders--which was to be expected from all of the working out he did.

“You don’t have to stay here,” Sasuke said softly.”Pack your bags. We’ll leave in thirty minutes.”


	6. Week six

Sakura woke up late at night--or maybe it was early in the morning? He knew his head hurt from the beers he drank before bed. He lifted himself out of the bed and walked out of the guest room.

The Uchiha house was unnecessarily large--too big for the three people that lived here already. Sakura hadn't met Madara yet. Apparently his trips were long, but Sasuke asked if Sakura wanted to meet him once he came back.

The lights were on downstairs. Seems that since it was only Sasuke and his brother, there was no such thing as a set bedtime. Was Sasuke still awake?

Sakura paced down the stairs and peeked into the living room. Sasuke definitely wasn't the one who stayed up. Itachi had Deidara pinned to the couch on his stomach. All Sakura could see was Itachi's ass and his balls bouncing against the other's opening. Such a crude scene, he was half tempted to turn around and run back to his room.

That is until Itachi stopped his motions and lifted his head to look back at him with an arched eyebrow.

“I didn't take you for the type to watch,” he said smoothly.

That was hardly fair. He'd only been standing there for a second. Itachi lifted himself off the blond and sat up on the couch on his knees, giving Sakura a full frontal view.

“See something you like?” He questioned.

“I should get back to bed.” Sakura could feel his cheeks starting to burn as he turned away from the older men.

“Why not join us?” Itachi asked him.

“Oh, you know Sasuke wouldn't like that,” Deidara giggled.

“If he truly cared he wouldn't have left his own boyfriend behind while he went out with friends,” Itachi said, taking in the way Sakura's shoulders flinched at his statement. The younger turned around slowly and looked at Itachi.

“Sasuke left?”

“Nearly an hour ago. He said he had someone to see. Strange, usually when he says that he's talking about you.”

Sakura had lost any interest in what was happening in front of him. Sasuke...Sasuke was out with another guy right now. And he'd left while Sakura slept. Did he plan to keep this a secret?

“So, what do you say?” Itachi raised an eyebrow. “There's room for one more.”

Instead of answering, Sakura turned and walked back upstairs to get his phone. No texts from Sasuke--none from anyone. Not even Tsunade or Ino. He spent most of his waking hours trying not to believe the two of them were better off without him. He started staying with Sasuke last week and Tsunade hadn't made any attempt to contact him. Ino hadn't been at school for the past two days, either.

His grip tightened on his phone and he had to make the conscious effort not to throw it at the wall. He hadn’t when he got like this. When the anger started to build and the little things that went wrong began to consume his thoughts. To make matters worse, it was happening in the dead of night with nothing around for him to blow some steam off with. 

But there was Itachi’s offer. 

He could go back downstairs and use them as a means of distraction--that’s what people did, right?

_ But what about Sasuke? _

**_Sasuke left you. Just like the rest of them--Tsunade, Ino, Naruto, even your biological parents didn’t want you_ ** . Sakura winced and gritted his teeth, letting his upper body fall back to the bed. It was back--that intrusive voice that drove him crazy. He was usually able to suppress it better than this. When he first came to live with Tsunade, it’d tell him to do things like flush his father’s keys down the toilet or set something on fire. With the timing, Tsunade always assumed Ino was the one coming up with all of the schemes--if you would even call them that.

Sakura was, by nature, a cruel child. All of those negative thoughts that came with being cast out by the other kids had gotten to him easily. Few people had been around to experience it. Tsunade put him in boxing as a means of redirecting it. It worked for the most part, but it’s difficult to suppress everything.

_ Should I call him? _

If he called Sasuke, he wasn’t sure what he would say. He should be here. Why would he just leave like this? Are you screwing someone else because I won’t put out?

_ No _ .

That’s a crude way of looking at things. Just breathe, Sakura. It’s probably not what it seems. Everything's probably fine.

 

~~

 

“If you hurt him, I’m coming for you.”

“Oh, I’m scared.” Sasuke fought hard not to roll his eyes at that remark. He could do what he very well pleased in his own home. He didn’t know how long Sakura was planning on staying with him, but if he could convince him to stay long enough to truly get under both Naruto and Ino’s skin, he’d be set. “You have no power.”

“I’m warning you.” Ino took a step towards Sasuke.

“Warning me?” Sasuke laughed at that. “If you make any wrong moves, I'll make sure Sakura never speaks to you again.”

“This is all because I wouldn't sleep with you?” Ino could hardly believe anyone would go this far just because someone rejected them.

“This is because I'm bored,” Sasuke said. He glanced around. They were all alone in the public park--which made sense since it was almost dawn. He'd have to get back home before Sakura woke up. He didn't trust Itachi not to try something with him. Especially if Deidara was there. “And it's not like I'm torturing him.”

“You're a piece of shit.”

“Is that why you wanted to meet me?” Sasuke smirked. “Or was it to threaten me?”

“I changed my mind.” He had been thinking it over. The Senju house wasn't the same without Sakura. He wasn't the same. And if it took sleeping with this jerk to set his friend free, so be it.

“You changed your mind?”

“I'll have sex with you. Whenever you want, wherever you want. Just leave Sakura alone.”

“You really have no idea, do you?” Sasuke sighed. “Sakura isn't being held against his will. He likes me.”

“You don't know that.”

“Fine.” Sasuke stood up. “Regardless, I should be getting back to him. He'll be waking up soon.”

“You're just a replacement. You know that, right?”

“You're threatened by me,” he chuckled. “You should be. I have a breakfast date with Sakura in a few hours. I intend to have a good time. And I assure you, he's going to enjoy himself as well.”

For a moment, Ino thought to ask. He wondered if Sasuke would tell him the truth about taking Sakura's virginity. No, he was probably searching for that. Purposefully trying to bait Ino into bringing up sex.

“I’m leaving, Ino,” Sasuke tossed the words over his shoulder as he started to walk back to his car. He’d already wasted enough time with Ino, he had somewhere to be. If Sakura woke up before he got back home, that’d throw his plan off track.

 

~~

 

“Where have you been?” Sakura asked the question as soon as Sasuke appeared in the bedroom doorway. His eyes were heavy and his body was damp--as if he’d just gotten out of the shower. Sasuke peeled off his jacket and tossed it into his chair with a simple shrug. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. Now he’d have to spend time calming Sakura down instead of getting any sleep.

“I just went for a walk.”

“Itachi told me you were out with a guy.”

Damn Itachi. Sasuke could never count on him for anything. The Uchiha lifted his shirt above his head, pretending it got stuck while he pondered what he was going to say next.

“Well?” Sakura narrowed his eyes.

“It’s just some business.”

“With who?”

“Why do you care?” Sasuke knew why already. He liked him--Sakura was wrapped around Sasuke’s finger and this was the cost. The pink haired boy reached forward and grasped one of Sasuke’s arms, tugging him towards him. Sasuke was a little surprised at just how strong he was. 

“Who was it?”

“Sakura, let go of me.”

Sakura’s grip tightened. “Then fucking tell me what happened. You refusing to tell me just looks suspicious, Sasuke.”

“I’m not telling you because I’m not your property,” Sasuke yanked his arm away and glared at the other. “You don’t have to know what I’m doing and who I’m talking to twenty-four-seven.”

Sakura puffed up his chest at that and for a moment, Sasuke thought he was going to hit him. But instead, he squared his jaw and walked back to the bed. His whole body was tensed; Sasuke recognized the stance perfectly. He sighed as if he had given up and shook his head.

“Let's just go to bed,” he said, crawling under his sheets. “Do you want to sleep in here tonight?”

“I won't be able to sleep.”

“Why?”

“Did you have sex tonight?”

Sasuke hadn't expected him to be so direct about it. The corner on his lip turned up into a small smile before he tugged his shirt off and cast it aside. He'd wanted this, as strange as it sounded. He wanted Sakura to like him enough to be concerned with what he was doing. It meant he had him right where he wanted.

“No,” he said.

“Did you get your dick sucked?”

“Sakura, stop.”

“I'm just wondering what it was that was so important that you had to leave in the middle of the night to meet some guy.”

“Just drop it.”

“If you don't tell me, I'm sleeping in the other room.” 

“Don't do that to me, just...come cuddle me?” Sasuke furrowed his brow. “The whole time I was gone I just wanted to lay with you.”

That made Sakura deflate. His eyes softened and he moved to one side of the bed, peeling off his shirt. 

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Sasuke said. “Okay?”

“Okay...fine.”

 

~~

 

Naruto woke with the light almost blinding him from the huge windows in the bedroom; one of them forget to close them before they slept the night before. He squinted, trying to adjust his eyes to the extreme light that felt warm against his bare back. Rubbing his face into the pillow, Naruto tried not to feel the shoot of pain reaching up his spine and around his neck. With his left hand he patted the bed beside him, trying to find the other in the slumber of his sleep.

He’d brought home a guy the other night when he went to the warehouse. His dads had gone out on a date, so it was no problem sneaking him in. It wasn’t that he wasn’t allowed to date, but he didn’t know if he could stand aside while his parents talked some poor guy’s ear off about how great he was while Naruto knew that he was just going to screw him and probably never see him again.

And it seemed to be what happened. He groaned and turned over on his side to pick his phone up. He’d only had one text from Neji.

‘Got some morning wood for me? ;)’

He sighed and let his head fall to the pillow. Neji was insatiable--he was literally sucking Naruto dry in every way. The blond wanted to call it off, each time felt worse than the last and he was tired of burning his skin with scalding water. But Neji wouldn’t let go of him. Not while he was the only one keeping him entertained. Sasuke was with Sakura--Naruto didn’t want to think about what they were doing together. Rumors circulated around the school that they were basically living together now. People had seen them hold hands and hug--it was pretty obvious that they were dating.

And that’s the reason for Naruto’s relapse. He knew what depression looked like. He’d tried to combat it different ways, but it always came back in some sort of form. Now, it was just looking for sex. He replied to Neji’s text, inviting him over. 

Might as well start the morning off with a bang if he was going to have to go to school and see the guy he liked with something else. Neji was aware of Naruto’s feelings--he’d even apologized once for aiding in crushing Naruto’s chances at the relationship. That didn’t stop him from trying to seduce him at every point.

Neji got there in about ten minutes, he was already on his way to grab a ride to school with Naruto anyway. Naruto’s dad Kushina let him in--he was less of a talker than Minato. He assumed Neji was his son’s boyfriend, so he preferred to give him privacy.

“Decided to start without me?” Neji giggled when he stepped into the room.

“You were taking too long.” Naruto coaxed a steady stream of precum out of his cock, glaring at Neji with eyes like steel.

“So, no foreplay? We’ve got thirty minutes till he have to leave--”

“I don’t want to stretch this out longer than I have to.” Naruto’s words struck Neji in a way that made him consider backing away. He could always pick up on that tinge of disgust in the blond’s voice. He climbed into the bed and wrapped his fingers around his length.

“You know, your dads are going to want me to come for dinner some time,” Neji said as he ran his tongue up and down Naruto’s cock. “What excuse are you going to give them?”

“We’ll conveniently break up,” the blond spread his legs as Neji settled between them and stared down at the brunette. “After that, we’ll have to meet up somewhere for school. I don’t want them to anything more about you than they already do.”

“I’m your friend, Naruto. Not some dirty little s--” Neji was cut off when Naruto pushed himself into his mouth.The blond let out a sigh of relief--he’d finally gotten what he wanted, Neji’s mouth was so stuffed he couldn’t talk and he was finally getting the chance to fuck something. Maybe if that guy from last night hadn’t left so soon, he could have had a threesome.

Neji’s fingertips dug into Naruto’s thighs and he tried his best to refrain from gagging. Naruto was rocking his hips into him so rhythmically that Neji could almost predict when he was going to cum. The Hyuga unzipped himself and stroked himself while he sucked. 

Naruto picked up his phone and scrolled through the school chat room. He didn't go on much, it was just a bunch of people that he hated just last year. But lately he'd found himself sneaking a peek at it just to see what was going on.

One message caught his eye.

‘Senju’s virginity poll’ it read. When Naruto opened it, his eyes scanned the list of names quickly before reading what was at the top:

“ _ Who will take Sakura Senju’s virginity? _ ”

There were four options--Naruto, Sasuke, Ino, and other. Naruto couldn't get to the comments without voting, so he checked his own name and moved on. 

‘ **It's def gonna happen at Sasukes party. Probably gonna be the host himself;)** ’  -Anonymous 

‘ **He's holding out for Yamanaka** ’ -TheRock

‘ **I think some mystery guy is gonna come in and bend him over. I'll be keeping my eye on him** ’ -xMrCoolx

Naruto didn't much care for that last one. He also noticed that he was dead last in the polls. Out of the two hundred people that had voted, only around thirty seemed to think he had a shot. He locked his phone and swallowed, holding himself in Neji's mouth while he slowly released down his throat. 

“Fucking idiots,” he grunted to himself. They couldn't predict the future, nor could they determine what Naruto and Sakura felt for each other. He knew Sakura felt something for him.

“I choked on your cum,” Neji coughed as he sat up.

“You never complained before.”

“You weren't this much of a dick before.”

“You deserve it,” Naruto muttered, zipping himself up.

“No one deserves this kind of treatment.”

“All you do is use people for sex.”

“Don't you dare say that while your cum is still on my tongue.” Neji sat up and licked his own release off of his fingers in hopes of getting some reaction out of the blond.

“Let's go, we should leave before my father wakes up.” Once Minato was awake, there was no telling how long it would take them to leave.

 

~~

 

“People are talking about it everywhere,” Sasuke smirked. Naruto found that it was harder to be around Sasuke these days. The party was just around the corner--next Friday, as it were. “This party's gonna be big.”

Sasuke had Tenten, Naruto, Kiba, and Sai helping him with last minute planning for the party. 

“How are we on party favors?” He asked Kiba.

“All set,” the brunette gave him a thumbs up. And by that, he meant they were going to have enough money to keep most of the party high for hours. Sasuke anticipated this being a party where people inevitably passed out somewhere instead of going home. He’d warned the guard at the gate about it and paid him off to make sure they wouldn’t be bothered by the authorities.

“What did you get, if you don’t mind me asking?” Sai questioned.

“Good stuff,” Kiba said. “MDMA, PCP, weed, and speed. People are gonna be up all night.”

“Isn’t that a little dangerous?” Naruto asked him. “That’s a lot of different drugs and people will be drinking--what if someone overdoses?”

“I agree,” Tenten said.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head. “It’ll be fine. There’s going to be a price on them. We’ll know when to cut certain people off.”

That didn’t make sense to Naruto. “But that--”

“Naruto,” Kiba snapped. “Just shut up and deal, it’ll be fine. We don’t want this party to be a buzz kill.”

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes, lifting himself off the couch. “Whatever, I’m getting a drink.” He walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

It was becoming apparent to him that he didn’t belong with this crowd. Out of all of them, Tenten was the kindest, and even he had his moments. He would readily sit back and watch Sasuke do what he’s doing. He would always be the bystander.

“How’d I get myself into this?” He grumbled as he opened the fridge to look for a beer.

“Not having fun, huh?” Sakura leaned against the counter behind the blond. A smile spread across his face when he saw Naruto jump slightly. “Did I scare you?”

Naruto looked at him with wide eyes, shutting the fridge quickly to face him. His eyes took in Sakura’s form first--it only made sense. The pink-haired boy had finally emerged from his bedroom wearing nothing but basketball shorts and a tight-fitting tank top. Naruto could see just how muscular he was. It took extra effort to tear his eyes away from his body, but he finally managed to make eye contact.

“It’s just--not really my scene,” Naruto replied after a moment. “What about you?”

“Hm?”

“Aren’t you going? I thought Sasuke would have asked you for help in planning it.”

Sakura shrugged. “This is Sasuke’s project--he wants to keep it separate from me.”

“I didn’t know that’s how relationships worked.” It was just a passing statement that Naruto made, but Sakura narrowed his eyes with a chuckle when it registered in his head.

“Sasuke and I aren’t dating.” The words tasted strange on his tongue, though it wasn’t a lie. He and Sasuke were just friends--close friends who shared the same bed more nights than not. But that had also been the nature of his relationship with Ino--Sakura was beginning to think this was just how he treated friends. “Did he tell you that?”

“No, I just--assumed…”

Sakura laughed. “Still available.”

Naruto blushed at that, “That wasn’t what I was asking.” His mind went back to the poll he saw. Looks like Sasuke wasn’t as secure for the lead as he thought.

_ Why’re you thinking about this like this? This isn’t about sex, Naruto. _ He licked his lips and opened his beer.

“So...stayin’ with Sasuke is workin’ out for you, then?”

Sakura scratched his head. “It’s fine. I don’t know how long I’ll be here exactly.” Tsunade still hadn’t contacted him; he was trying his best to push that to the back of his mind. “Probably till just after the party.”

Long enough for Sasuke to possibly get what he wanted.

“I’m guessing since you’re helping with party planning that you’ll be there?” Sakura had been checking Naruto out in return, though he was much better at hiding it than the blond.

“Yeah--I’ll be there.”

“Hopefully this party ends better than the last one for us,” he laughed.

Naruto winced and looked away. “Yeah...sorry about that. I just--didn’t know how to face you afterwards.”

“Well, you’re facing me now,” he said. His eyes shifted to the doors leading to the backyard. “Why don’t we talk? They won’t miss you for a couple minutes.”

The two boys went outside and sat on the Uchiha’s back porch. It was late--almost eleven at night, though Sakura’s sleeping schedule had been permanently screwed by the two Uchiha brothers’ night owl traits. They sat next to each other on a nearby bench and for a minute or two, there was silence between them.

“He’s got a nice place,” Naruto said. “Sasuke’s loaded.”

“It loses it’s novelty pretty quick,” Sakura replied. “So, how have you been?”

“Good, good. Just--trying to keep busy.”

“With anyone in particular?”

Naruto was taken back by the question--mainly how direct it was. He had to mean Neji--he was part of the reason this talk was so dry. He liked to think he had better chemistry with Sakura when he took him out. Probably better than Sakura had with Sasuke. “I see Neji from time to time,” he cleared his throat. “He’s hard to get rid of.”

“I managed.”

“Let me clarify, he’s hard to get rid of when you’re his only source of entertainment.”

“Sounds like Neji.” At least from what Sasuke had told him. He didn’t count the time he spent with Neji as valid enough to know him. He’d heard Neji’s claws were hard to get out of--hence why Sasuke slept with him for so long. “So, you’re trying to get away from him, then?”

Naruto scoffed. “He’s no good. He uses everyone, I don’t want to be around someone like that.” He looked at Sakura for a moment and licked his lips before asking. “How did you get away from Ino?”

“We just kind of fell apart,” Sakura said. “We don’t talk anymore.”

“I honestly didn’t see it coming,” Naruto chuckled nervously. “Is it because you’re staying with Sasuke?”

“I’m staying with Sasuke because of it, actually. Ino basically lives at my house--and part of me thinks my dad would rather have him around while I’m not there. So, I’m not in any rush to go home.”

“You’ve gotta miss your dad, though. I mean...friends are nice, but family is just that. It’s where you belong.”

“Like you know anything about friends,” Sakura scoffed under his breath.

Naruto heard him. And it struck him in a way that made him almost contemplate getting up and leaving--staying away until he found the appropriate time to approach Sakura again. But that would be prolonging the problem at hand. 

“I guess you’ve got a point.” His eyes dropped to the ground. “I haven’t really been myself lately. Things are rough.”

“Naruto, I’m not looking for excuses.”

“I know, I know,” he said quickly. “I just--kind wish I would have done things right. Maybe then you wouldn’t have been stuck staying with Sasuke of all people.”

“Sasuke’s been the best friend I’ve had in all of this,” Sakura said. “Don’t stomp on him to make yourself feel better. You’re the one that screwed up.”

Naruto winced. “Yeah--you don’t have to remind me. I’m just trying to ask...if there’s a way for me to fix it?”

“Don’t ask me, you’re supposed to figure it out yourself.” Sakura had to watch himself. He was getting agitated, but the last thing he wanted was for this conversation to end before he got to the bottom of it. “Naruto, do you know how hurtful it was to be ignored?”

“Yeah...I know that feeling.”

“You didn’t talk to me after that night. I had no clue what happened or what I did.”

“It wasn’t you, it was me.”

“I didn’t know that then.” Hands balled into fisted, Sakura gritted his teeth. “You ditched me after a ditch. For all I knew, you just didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“I couldn’t face you after what I did.”

“Sounds like a cowardly thing to do.”

“Yeah--and it’s landed me where I am, now. Talk about karma.” This time, they both laughed unexpectedly. 

Yeah, the chemistry is still there, Naruto thought. It was shotty, due to neglect and a new layer of mistrust, but Sakura was still interested in him, he could tell.

 

~~

 

“You don’t have to go home if you don’t want to. You’ve lived here for years anyway,” Tsunade said the words out loud with a smirk as he raised his drink to his lips. A drinking buy that you didn’t owe any money to was a precious thing--and he’d found out that he actually liked Ino’s company more than he anticipated. So much so that they’d spent days sitting on the couch talking.

This kid was a friend to him.

“I think I’ve overstayed my welcome. Besides--you probably want your son back some time soon. He wouldn’t come back while I’m here.”

“I think it’s mutual effort on both of our parts. He’s avoiding me as well.”

“Sorry about all of this.”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing.” He never thought he’d say those words to Ino of all people. 

“Weird habit to pick up, I guess.” The boy blushed and set down his own beer before looking away. Tsunade found himself biting his lip as he leaned back and watched his movements. He was different than Tsunade thought he was. So much so that the man barely recognized him. And he found himself dangerously attracted to this new person.

You’ve done it this time, Tsunade.

At least he wasn’t drooling over his son, but what was it that made him drawn to two younger men in a row. Did their ages contribute to his interests?

No, if that were the case then he would have started looking at Ino earlier. It was--the face that he’d seen nearly every side of him, maybe. Now, he was itching for more but all that was left was....

No.

He couldn’t let those images flood his mind now. Not when he had seven beers in his stomach and Ino was sitting so close that Tsunade couldn’t breath properly without taking in the sweet smell of his shampoo. 

Squaring his jaw, he finally tore his eyes away from the younger boy.

“I should get started on dinner,” Tsunade said.

“You ordered a pizza,” Ino chuckled. 

“Well, I should set the table for it.” He made a move to get up, but arms wrapped around him to hold him in place.

“You don’t need to do that. Stay with me,” Ino whined slightly and for some reason, Tsunade just found it endearing. “Please?”

“You shouldn’t cling so much.”

“You don’t like it?”

Tsunade paused and tensed up in his seat before saying “Don’t ask me that.”

Blue eyes raised to meet his own and--christ, Ino was so drunk. But so was he. And maybe that’s why this was so tempting. 

“Ino…” Tsunade heard himself say as the boy inched closer. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

“But you’d let me take advantage of you?”

He couldn’t come up with an appropriate answer to the question, even though a simple no would have probably done well. Ino was shifting his weight now, trying to ease his way on top of Tsunade.

“In the eyes of the law, I would be the one to blame.”

“So, don’t think about the law. Just think about me.” He swung his leg over and straddled the older man. 

This was escalating too quickly.

“Ino, you don’t want to do this.” _ I won’t be able to help myself if you go further. _

“But you want me. I can see it in your eyes,” he said. “You’re so hard, too.” He let his body dip and graze Tsunade’s boxers, making the older man regret his lack of clothing. Ino’s fingers trailed along the edge of Tsunade’s robe and pushed it open to reveal the man’s chest.

“Stop…”

“Do you mean that? Because your hands are saying otherwise.”

Tsunade didn’t know when it started to happen, but his hands were on the younger boy’s waist, guiding his motions as Ino rubbed himself against the bulge in Tsunade’s boxers.

“You make me wanna fuck you,” Tsunade’s voice came out as a growl and he wrapped his arms around Ino, forcing him on his back on the couch. Both males groaned at the contact once Tsunade was able to rub their hard-ons together.

“Then do it,” Ino said through gritted teeth. “Fuck me, Tsunade.”

It was as if that was all he needed for his morals to fly out of the window and he was going at the boy like no adult should have, kissing at exposed skin and stripping off the clothing that was between them. 

Had Ino been sober, he might have been a little more nervous about all of this. Sleeping with Tsunade was something he wouldn’t mind, but being on bottom was another thing. Ino wasn’t versatile and he’d never had so much as a finger inside of him. But when he finally felt Tsunade’s cock graze him, a wet bead of pre-cum getting left behind on his hole, he felt himself bite his lip and roll his hips.

“You’re big,” Ino breathed. 

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No. I want you to do it.” Ino spread his legs and looked up at Tsunade with eyes that almost looked innocent, had Tsunade not been aware of just how much of a devil Ino could be.

He needs a good pounding.

It was a nasty thought, imagining what Ino would look like after Tsunade was finished with him. He cast him a wicked look as he slid himself inside of the younger boy, pausing periodically to lean his head back and groan at the tightness. Ino’s back arched and his jaw dropped. He wasn’t sure if he found this pleasurable or painful, but it sent a jolt straight to his groin that made his cock twitch.

“Just relax,” Tsunade said. “You’re--shit--you’re really tight.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“I could...release at any moment.” Tsunade liked to think of himself as a man with stamina. But it had been a while since he’d been intimate with anyone. The last man he dated, Mei, was nearly insatiable. Not that Tsunade mind--that relationship fell apart for other reasons. Ino was the tightest he’d ever felt. And when paired with his intense arousal and attraction to the boy, it was no wonder he was so close. He was leaking like a faucet inside of him.

“You can start off hard, I don’t mind.” Ino’s heart was pounding out of his chest and his ass was trying so hard to adjust to the intrusion. “Just do it.”

Tsunade licked his lips and pulled out before pushing back in with a moan. He started to pump into him hard after the first few pumps, keeping his eyes on the boy’s face to make sure there wasn’t too much discomfort. It was at this point that he was sure it would be a bitch to refrain from doing this with Ino more than once. Every time his balls pressed against Ino’s entrance, he fought the urge to blow right then.

It was a wonder they didn’t need any lube, but Tsunade’s pre-cum seemed to be good enough lubrication for them.

Rough hands gripped Ino’s ass and the boy squared his jaw.

Fuck, how do they do this? Ino suddenly had a new sense of admiration for the guys who'd allowed him to plow into them without so much as a single protest. But Tsunade's face made the aching worth it. Ino could tell that the man was thoroughly enjoying himself and that gave him a warm feeling of accomplishment. Just knowing he was the one who was able to make he feel like this--after he'd let Ino stay here so he didn't have to face Jiraiya…

“Are you going to cum in me?” Ino blinked innocently and the timid voice he pulled made Tsunade deliver an extra hard thrust.

“I could…”

“Go ahead,” he urged him on by rocking his his, ignoring the pain as he moved. 

“Fuck….fuck...it's happening.” Tsunade's hands slid down Ino's torso as he groaned and planted his seed deep in him. He couldn't believe this was happening, even as he came in him. This was possibly the best sex he'd had in awhile and he found himself wishing it'd never end. 

His arm wrapped around Ino’s neck and he drew him I closer, burying his face in the crook of the boy's neck. His cock was straining inside of him, still attempting to get out the little bit that was left in him. When he finally came down from his orgasm, he collapsed on top of the boy still lodged within him.

“Wow,” he panted.

“Was it good?”

“It was…really good.” He sat up a bit and looked down at Ino before his fingers wrapped around the boy’s previously neglected cock. “I'd be happy to show you.”

“I'm okay--I don't think I'll be able to...y’know…” Ino could feel an all too familiar sensation rising within him. He balled his hands into fists and focused on the feeling, trying to find some way to suppress it.

Why should I feel guilty about this? He asked himself. I didn't do anything wrong.

But what about Sakura?

As bad as the terms were between them, it was foolish to think he wouldn't face the other ever again. They'd have to talk this out, one way or another. How could Ino do that knowing he'd done what he just did?

“Are you alright?” Tsunade looked closely at the boy, reading his features. 

“Yeah, just...just fucking drunk,” he sighed and sat up. “I need to pass out.”

“My sheets are about to come out of the dryer. They'll be nice and warm for us.”

“Actually, I think I'll sleep alone. I really don't feel well.”

Tsunade sensed the shift in energy and moved away from Ino, giving him space.

“Is there anything I can get for you?” The last thing he wanted was for the boy to regret this. No--that would bring on so many problems that he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with.

_ I fucked a child. _

“I'm fine,” Ino said as he rolled off the couch and walked towards the stairs.


	7. Week seven

“You're cute, why wouldn't I flirt with you?”  He was pressing too close and Sakura didn’t know what to make of it. Tonight was the night of the party, and the whole week felt like a blur. Sasuke had people over to help set up for the event--he expected around a hundred people to show up tonight. Sakura somehow found himself stuck with Deidara.

“Aren’t you Itachi’s boyfriend?”

Deidara laughed at that. “Hardly. We just fuck around.”

Sakura swallowed at the phrase, his hands shifting into his pockets as he straightened up on the couch.

“Yes, in the literal sense,” Deidara added as he nudged the other with a smirk. “Don’t let it intimidate you. I’m still very much available. And I’m not blind.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, don’t play dumb,” he said. “You know how cute you are. If it was legal, I would--”

“Am I interrupting something?” Sasuke asked as he entered the room. “I’ve been wondering where you wandered off to. Mind giving us a hand in the kitchen?”

Sakura stood up quickly. That was the only excuse he needed to get away from Deidara. As he moved past Sasuke, the Uchiha cast a suspicious look at the blonde on the couch.

“Having fun?” He asked him.

Deidara giggled. “He’s so cute. I can see why you like him.”

“Are you going to make yourself useful?”

“I was keeping him company. And I think I was getting somewhere before you interrupted.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why? Just because it’s taken you forever and a day to fuck him doesn’t mean I’m willing to wait that long.” Deidara liked to keep things clear and out in the open. He was interested in Sakura, the only drawback was how young he was. He wasn’t above fucking someone his age, he’d even tried to pick up Sasuke at one point. But boys his age were either ridiculously horny or terribly awkward in those situations. Sakura just didn’t seem like a sexual person.

“Just watch your back,” Sasuke warned. “I don’t share.”

When he came back into the kitchen, Sakura and Naruto were trying not to look at each other. Sasuke could keep the tension in the room coming from all directions. Naruto was working on one of the cakes for the party while Sakura stared at the recipe a little too intently.

“You can give me a hand if you want,” Sasuke offered. “Chopping up potatoes for fries.”

“You hand-cut fries?” Sakura raised an eyebrow.

“They taste better,” he grunted in response before sliding a knife over to him. “On the bright side, it’ll be a lot quicker with two people. Then maybe we can give Naruto, over there, a hand with that cake.”

Naruto looked up in that moment and met Sasuke’s taunting eyes. This was going to be the start of some kind of game for him. Naruto assumed he’d had something up his sleeves, since this was his party and all. Why would he have Naruto there if he wasn’t planning anything? They weren’t necessarily friends.

“Or do you have everything handled with that?” Sasuke asked him.

Naruto set down the bowl and leaned against the counter. “It’s comin’ along. I don’t need any help.”

“You sure? Sakura’s pretty decent with his hands,” Sasuke smirked.

Naruto paused at that, muscles visibly tensing and his eyes flickered up to stare at an arbitrary corner of the ceiling as he replied to Sasuke.

“It’ll take your word for it.” 

  
  


Sakura didn’t know exactly when the party kicked off. It seemed like from the time the first person walked through the door, caution was thrown to the wind. There were about a hundred unique people in Sasuke’s home and Sakura only knew a handful of them. He’d taken to sticking close to those people--mainly trying to remain by Sasuke’s side as much as he possibly could.

“If you want some privacy, I blocked your room off from the party. Anyone who goes in will be kicked out,” Sasuke muttered after leaning into him. “I know it’s more people than you were expecting.”

“How can you tell?”

“I like to think I recognize your anxious face by now.” He wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. “But it is only thirty minutes into the night.”

Sakura sighed. “You’re kidding.”

“C’mon, talk to some people. I know there are a bunch of people who want to talk to you.”

“What?” 

“You already know how hot people think you are,” Sasuke chuckled. “You don’t even really have to start a real conversation with anyone.”

“Then how would I get to know them?”

“Trust me--they’ll be the ones putting in the effort, pretty boy.” Sasuke took Sakura’s wrist and guided him through the house. They made their way to one of the back rooms--Sasuke’s arcade room. There were two guys playing a game with so much focus and accuracy that it was blatantly obvious they were on some type of stimulant. Sasuke recognized one of them as Gaara, Temari’s little brother. He looked like he’d been awake for weeks. 

“Sasuke! There you are!” Hinata came up and wrapped an arm around the Uchiha. He was clearly some sort of intoxicated--Sasuke could see his face beginning to redden.

“Hey,” Sasuke replied before looking past him briefly. “Where’s your date?”

“Hm?” 

“Your date--you asked if you could bring someone,” Sasuke reminded him.

“Oh, yeah. Uh...decided against it. Don’t want to be tied to anyone during the biggest party of the year. Ruins my chances of getting laid.”

“As if you actually care about that,” he smirked.

“I care about a lot of things,” Hinata said with a quick wink. “For instance, I’ve got a few dollars goin’ on a pretty big bet tonight.”

“Oh yeah?” Sasuke decided to play dumb. “What kind of bet? If anyone’s collecting money under my roof, I’m going to need a cut.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I know I would,” Sakura heard himself say. “What kind of bet?”

“Can’t tell you, it’s a secret,” the Hyuga answered. “Only the people with money on it know details and the box is closed.”

Sakura rolled his eyes. Stupid kids and their games, he thought to himself. Despite the fact that Hinata was definitely older than him. He decided to sit--he didn’t need to hover around Sasuke in the house he’d been calling his home. He took the spot in between Gaara and Shikamaru. They were both neck and neck in a racing game.

Gaara ended up winning and Shikamaru tossed the controller aside.

“Whatever,” he mumbled in defeat. “I need another drink. Who’s up for shots?” Dark eyes shifted towards the pink-haired boy next to him and Shikamaru nudged him. “How about you, Senju?”

“Hm?”

“Wanna take shots with me?” He set a shot glass on the coffee table in front of him. “Promise we’ll go slow.”

Sakura thought he’d caught a wink from Shikamaru, though he couldn’t be sure. He nodded and watched the other fill up the shot glass and slide it towards him.

 

Elsewhere, Sasuke had been cornered by an annoyed Tenten.

“Sasuke, I don’t know what you’re planning tonight, but you shouldn’t do it,” he tried to warn his friend but he was only met with a smirk.

“You need to get laid, Tenten,” Sasuke said as he wrapped an arm around the other boy’s shoulder and guided him through the crowd. He knew just who to take Tenten to in order to get him off his back. He knew that if he was pushed, Tenten would probably try to sabotage the whole thing before Sasuke could get Sakura where he wanted him.

He found Hinata sitting on the couch, nibbling on some poor boy’s collarbone--Sasuke couldn’t quite make out who he was from this angle. He didn’t look wasted, but he was definitely getting there.

“I’ve got someone for you to meet,” Sasuke said to him and the Hyuga looked up at the two of them. “This is my friend, Tenten. And Tenten’s sober.”

With that, he shoved the boy towards the older male and fell back into the crowd. He knew Hinata would do the rest of the work.

Hinata shifted and Tenten made eye contact with Sai, the other boy who had been with Hinata on the couch. He looked as though he wasn’t all the way there. In fact, he looked like he was totally tripping out.

“What did he take?” Tenten asked, straightening up.

Hinata’s eyes drifted towards Sai and he examined him briefly, but he didn’t show any real concern.

“Did you hear me?”

“Chill out,” Hinata muttered. “Have a drink.” He held up his cup to the skeptical brunette and offered him a smile. “C’mon. You know me--I’m Neji’s older brother.”

“Hinata, right?” Tenten supposed he recognized him. Not to mention they had a strong resemblance now that he knew about their relation.

“That’s right.” The male’s smile grew and he shook the cup. “So? What do you say?”

Tenten hesitated for a moment, but took the cup. It looked like regular punch--the one that Sasuke obviously spiked--but when he tasted it, he tasted something a little extra.

“There’s a little bit of whisky in there, too,” Hinata said to him. “Just because I’m a fan of the taste.”

“Whisky ruins things.”

Hinata smirked. “That’s a matter of opinion. Besides, you’re still drinkin’ it.”

“Yeah...I guess you’re right.” Tenten looked down at the cup for a moment. Well, this is a party, he thought to himself. Better to let loose than worry about what he couldn’t help right now. And speaking of which...what had he been worried about, again?

  
  


They were finally existing in the same space peacefully. Naruto couldn’t keep his eyes from drifting over into Sakura’s direction every few seconds. It was just a few of them that had chosen to linger out on the balcony. A handful of people were smoking cigarettes, and there was one person passing around something that, from what Naruto could see, was definitely not a cigarette. But with everything that was going on inside, weed was the least of his worries.

“You want a hit, Naruto?” Shikamaru asked him out of nowhere.

The blonde glance up at him skeptically.

“You look like you need it,” the dark-haired boy carried on. He wasn’t stupid. If anyone on the outside looking in knew what was going on, it’d be Shikamaru. He saw the way Naruto looked at Sakura--and the way Sakura tried so hard not to spare Naruto a single glance. 

They were into each other, that much was clear. But there was more to it than that, it seemed.

“I...don’t smoke,” Naruto said.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Suigetsu interjected, leaning against the railing of the balcony. He vaguely recognized Sakura. From what he remembered, Temari had bought drugs from him with the intention of giving them to Sakura. For a moment, Suigetsu thought to ask if the pink-haired boy enjoyed himself, though he didn’t think such a question fit in the conversation.

Naruto had been around the stuff. He wasn’t completely inexperienced. He didn’t smoke because it was his conscious choice not to. It wasn’t like he’d never had the chance.

“Suit yourself,” Shikamaru shrugged. Then he looked at Sakura. “How about you?”

At that, Sakura gave him a smirk that revealed their little game of shots was finally getting to him. It was rare that Sakura actually got drunk. And even then, he usually drank with Ino.

“I’ll take a puff or two,” he said, extending his hand to take the joint. 

Naruto had to admit, he was a bit surprised when Sakura accepted. But he didn’t say anything as he watched him take it. 

Shikamaru laughed when he coughed almost immediately.

“Yeah, thought that’s how it’d go,” he said as he took the joint back. “Just cough it out, you’ll be fine.”

He patted Sakura on the back and brought the joint up to his lips, taking a long slow drag before he tilted his head up and blew a cloud of smoke into the cool air. His eyes lowered and settled on the boxer. Shikamaru had never really been one to follow the crowd. Never one to like the same things that other people did. It’s not that he was worried about being a hipster or something, he honestly didn’t care. But he just typically didn’t see the appeal in things that other people liked.

But it was different with Sakura. He could see clearly that there was some sort of struggle between Naruto and Sasuke to have Sakura to themselves. Before tonight, Shikamaru had been rooting for Sasuke. No, rooting wasn’t the right word. To put it simply, he’d put money of Sasuke winning the bet. It only made sense--the Uchiha was rich, attractive, smart, and he had Sakura living under his roof. 

It seemed like an easy way to make a hundred bucks. But now, he was conflicted. Did he really think Sasuke deserved Sakura’s virginity? 

There was a twinge of jealousy in his chest. That entitled bastard doesn’t deserve anything, he thought to himself. If anyone should fuck him, it should be me. I’m the one he’s been with all night.

“Hey, Sakura, you wanna get outta here for a little bit after this joint?” He asked him boldly. Shikamaru was never one to beat around the bush, especially when time wasn’t on his side. 

The boxer stared at him for a moment, as if he were processing what he was just asked. It took one look into Shikamaru’s eyes for Naruto to know what he had in mind.

“Uh, I was hoping we could talk some more,” the blonde said to Sakura. 

Sakura scratched his head. “I think I’m a little too drunk to leave the house right now.” He let out a goofy chuckle and leaned against the railing. “Well, drunk...getting stoned...I’m not sure what else I could do that would make this worse.”

Naruto snickered at that, causing green eyes to settle on him.

“Is something funny?” Sakura questioned. At the sight of Naruto’s smile, he couldn’t fight his own from appearing.

“No, no,” he shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Sakura paused for a moment, wondering if he should say what had come into his mind. In the end, he decided there was no harm in voicing it.

“Gah, you’re so cute,” he heard himself giggle as he tilted his head at Naruto.

  
  


They were dancing too close for Sasuke’s comfort. He wasn’t sure when it happened, he’d only taken his eyes off of Sakura for a moment. Now he was stuck at his bar, taking shot after shot as he watched Naruto grope the guy he’d planned on sleeping with tonight. His lip curled in disgust as Naruto’s hands traced over Sakura’s chest and down his bicep.

“Getting handsy, aren’t you?” Sakura smirked.

Mm, fuck,” Naruto grunted with his lips pressed against the other’s neck, inhaling his scent deeply. “I can’t get enough of you.”

This was turning him on so bad. Sakura was so close and they were talking--grinding their bodies against each other slowly…

Naruto caught a glimpse of Sasuke’s face when he finally looked around at their surroundings. He gave him a victorious smirk before he dropped his lips to graze the crook of Sakura’s neck.

Naruto had three drinks in his system--just enough for him to get drunk without the risk of throwing up. He’d loosened his inhibitions enough to be able to exist with Sakura without it being too awkward. Hell, they were grinding in the middle of the floor, so obviously he didn’t feel that awkward about it. And then there were the looks he was getting from the people surrounding them. It was like everyone was in on the bet, some people looked on with a sense of worry that they were going to lose out on cash if Naruto got any closer. He could pick out those people well...the people who didn’t think he stood a chance against Sasuke.

With a smirk, Naruto’s arms wrapped around Sakura’s neck and he held their bodies close.

“You’re a pretty good dancer,” Naruto said to him.

“I’ve gotta be good on my feet,” Sakura explained. “I’d be a shit boxer if I wasn’t.”

Naruto found that he appreciated Sakura’s hobby more than he thought. It was easier to do so when he could feel every inch of the other’s body against his own in a way. He licked his lips. “I wonder what else you’re good with,” he heard himself say.

Sakura laughed at that. “Maybe you’ll find out sometime?”

This time, Naruto looked him in the eye. “How soon can that be?”

He was ready. Ready to take Sakura out of here and really show him just how much he’d missed being around him. And judging by the look he was giving him, Sakura wasn’t going to be opposed to the idea.

Sakura gave him a light-hearted laugh before breaking the contact and shaking his head. “Who knows?” He said with a shrug. 

That’s when Naruto decided to lay it out on the table. “My parents are gone for the weekend. They don’t typically care if I have people over, but it’s kind of rare that I’ve got the house to myself for a couple days.”

“And what’re you asking?”

“I drove here--would you want to catch a ride home with me?”

Sakura saw it coming, he just didn’t expect Naruto to put it so simply. He assumed he’d beat around the bush a little bit. Still, he chuckled and looked around.

“Ah, I think I should stay behind and make sure the house doesn’t get too trashed.” He watched the letdown look cross Naruto’s face for a moment before the blonde seemingly forced himself to lighten up promptly, his eyes trained on something behind Sakura. And when the boxer turned his head, he saw the spectacle for himself.

Sasuke had found some other guy and they were making out right in the middle of the party. A few people were standing around, Sakura even saw two guys clapping their hands and cheering the boys on. And just like that, his attention had shifted completely from Naruto to Sasuke. With his jaw squared and hands balled into fists, he moved through the crowd, pushing people aside to make a wide enough path.

When he got to Sasuke, he gripped the fabric of his shirt and tugged him backwards, narrowing his eyes at the boy he’d been kissing. The guy wasn’t an idiot. He knew very well who Sakura was and just how hard he could possibly hit someone. Sasuke was hot, but he wasn’t hot enough for the guy to risk fighting Sakura over.

He backed off immediately, disappearing into the crowd before Sakura could grab him.

But the boxer’s attention was already focused on Sasuke. He stared daggers into the Uchiha’s eyes and stepped up to him, seemingly towering over him.

“My room, now.” He growled.

Sasuke smirked, swaying slightly. He’d had seven shots--that was enough to toss most of his cares to the wind. He looked at Sakura’s bottled up rage and only managed to let out a drunken chuckle before he shook his head.

“Aw, is someone pissed?” He reached up to pinch one of Sakura’s cheeks but his hand was slapped away.

“I said get upstairs.” And with that, Sakura grabbed Sasuke by the wrist and started to tug him through the house, leaving Naruto standing alone in the middle of the dance floor.

  
  


“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Sakura asked through gritted teeth. He was trying--trying so hard not to put his hands on Sasuke. If he let his anger get the better of him, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Not to mention he’d had enough to drink to loosen his sense of restraint significantly.

“Well,” Sasuke tapped his chin as if he were thinking and then smiled. “I’m enjoying my party. What are  _ you  _ doing?”

“By making out with some fucking guy?”

“I don’t see a problem here.”

“You know what the goddamn problem is!” Sakura snapped, screaming in his face as the palm of his right hand made hard contact with the wall just above Sasuke’s head.

Sasuke flinched at the sudden movement, but still kept his smirk. “What’s wrong? Mad because your date was all over some other guy?”

Sakura couldn’t help but feel like Sasuke was challenging him--no--defying him in some way. He’d just grabbed a stranger and started making out with him. And all because he saw Sakura with Naruto? No, that was bullshit. That wasn’t how this was going to work. And Sakura was going to make sure he knew that.

With one hand, he unbuckled his belt and tugged it off.

“Get on the fucking bed, Sasuke,” he commanded, letting go of the other and stepping back.

“Make me,” Sasuke raised his eyebrows, clearly amused by everything going on. 

But he was pushing all of the wrong buttons. Sakura grabbed his by the hair, which Sasuke wasn’t expecting and half-dragged him to the bed, throwing him down on his stomach. From there, Sasuke knew exactly where this was going. And he had half a mind to tell Sakura that he’d stored condoms in the bottom drawer of this room just in the event that this is where they ended up fucking. But with the way Sakura was holding him down with one hand and forcing down his pants with the other, he didn’t think he’d even be heard.

Sakura pressed his bulge to Sasuke’s backside and the dark haired boy tried to look back to see what exactly was happening.

“No guy’s ever had my ass before,” Sasuke told him. “Treat it well,” he mused.

“Shut up.” Sakura had a one-track mind in this instance. And it was fueled by the idea of utter domination. Sasuke had crossed a boundary and more or less humiliated him. As far as everyone knew, the two of them were an item. “I’ll teach you to stick your tongue down some other guy’s throat.”

“Yes, please,” Sasuke purred, barely loud enough for the other to hear. He welcomed this, for some weird reason. He never thought this was how things would go down, but he was far from protesting. Having a boy manhandle him this way was doing wonders for his blossoming erection. “Show me who I belong to.”

There was a knock on the door that made both of them jolt. After a moment of brief eye contact, Sakura forced Sasuke back down on the bed to resume.

The knock came again.

“We’re busy!” Sakura barked.

A heavier knock.

“Go away!” He shouted.

This time, the knock made him break away from the Uchiha. He rolled off the bed with half a mind to punch whoever thought this was funny. When he opened the door, he came face to face with his ex-best friend.

It took a moment for Sakura to fix his lips to say something. Sasuke sat up on the bed and peered over his shoulder, making eye contact with the blonde.

“Am I interrupting something?” Ino asked in an awkward tone, his eyes lingering on Sasuke’s underwear.

“What are you doing here?” Sakura narrowed his eyes.

“I came to talk to you,” Ino replied.

“Leave.”

“Not until we talk,” Ino said. He didn’t expect Sakura to shove him backwards. When his back his the wall, he winced and looked up at the boxer. 

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Sakura told him. “Get outta here. I said I’m busy.”

“Sakura, please.” Ino was trying not to show just how bothered he was by this scene. It was obvious what he’d been interrupting, but he didn’t want to put too much thought into it. He’d been texted by Tenten earlier in the night who’d told him about the bet going on.

Sakura glared at him for a moment before he took a step out of the room. “Fine.” He shut the door without looking back at Sasuke. Tugging Ino into the next room over, he shut it and looked at the blonde. “You get two minutes.”

Ino let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“What do you want?”

“I...wanted to start off by telling you that Tsunade misses you. We both do. And we wish you’d come back, already.”

Sakura scoffed. “It took me leaving for the two of you to become best friends. You don’t need me back. I’m happy here.”

“Sakura, you don’t understand. Whatever Sasuke’s doing here with you--it’s all a lie. He doesn’t care about you at all.”

Sakura rolled his eyes. “And you do? You came all the way here to tell me that the only guy who’s been with me this whole time doesn’t actually like me? Did you really think that would work?”

“I’m just trying to be honest with you--”

“And what do you expect to gain from this, Ino?” Sakura’s fist struck the wall, which Sasuke heard from the other room but made no more to come investigate. “Am I supposed to forgive you because you’re supposedly less of a horrible person than Sasuke?”

“I know I’ve been wrong in the past. I know I’ve taken advantage of you and I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I really had.”

“That’s right. You fucking didn’t.”

Ino carded a hand through his hair and sighed. He’d have to drop the bomb, now. He hated the idea of giving him more bad news, but Sasuke couldn’t jerk him around like this. He couldn’t use him like...like some piece of meat. Ino had to tell Sakura everything he knew before it was too late.

“Sakura, someone’s got a poll going,” he said. “And everyone’s in on it.”

The boxer narrowed his eyes. “A what?”


	8. Week Eight

“Tell me the truth, Sasuke.” Sakura glared at him across the table. The party from the night before had dissolved, the boys could only assume Itachi was the one who cleaned. After Ino left, Sakura walked back into his bedroom to find Sasuke passed out. And it was a good thing, too, because Sakura was fuming once he came back.

Now, they were sitting across from each other at the breakfast table. Sasuke kept his head low, trying to mind the booming hangover. One dark eye dragged upwards to meet Sakura’s and he offered him a weak smile.

“The truth?” He started to play dumb, but Sakura leaned forward and intensified his glare.

“Were you just using me for some bet?” He asked, his fingers slightly drumming on the table. He’d calmed down drastically since last night. He could tell because he wasn’t dying to punch something anymore. As he watched Sasuke’s expression change, his eyebrows knitted together. “Please be honest with me.”

It took Sasuke a moment to come up with a good enough answer.

“It’s not that black and white,” he said.

“Yes, it is. Were you using me to fulfill some bet or not?” That was the most pressing thing on Sakura’s mind, but not the only thing. There was also the idea of Sasuke asking Ino for sex at one point. He’d cross that bridge when he got there.

“It’ll take some explaining,” he started. He made a move to grasp Sakura’s hand, but the boxer jerked away. “Yes, there was a bet. I knew about it, but I didn’t take it seriously. It was just a few dumb guys making fools of themselves.”

“And that’s why you decided to fucking play along?”

“I never participated in it. I’d never do that. I just--”

“You just decided to keep it from me, is that it?”

“I knew you’d get mad. I didn’t want you to think that--that’s the only reason I wanted to be around you. Sakura, I couldn’t care less about the sex or the bet. I just didn’t want it to screw up whatever we’ve got going.”

“Too late.”

Sasuke felt something in his heart wretch and he swallowed the lump in his throat.  _ Just keep talking _ , he told himself. “I should have told you. I know that, now. But please, just give me a chance? The benefit of the doubt? I really like you.”

“Same way you liked Ino?”

At that, Sasuke gave him a confused look.

“He told me about you asking to hook up.”

Sasuke scoffed and shook his head. “Of course, I did. But that was before I even got to know you. Neji and I had just broken up and I was looking for something superficial.”

“Is that what you were looking for with me?”

“No. I got to know you because I wanted something different. And...you’ve always seemed different from the rest. Maybe it was the way the school talked about you.”

“Right,” Sakura rolled his eyes.

“I mean it. You’ve always been different. It’s why I like you so much.”

Sakura liked him, too. That much was obvious. But just looking at Sasuke was pissing him off. No, everyone was pissing him off. There didn’t seem to be a single person in his life who hadn’t been lying to him. 

“I can’t be with someone who lies to me like you do,” he said. 

“I know,” Sasuke said quickly. “And I promise--from now on, you’ll only get the truth out of me. Anything you ask, I’ll be honest.”

“It shouldn’t take this much to get that from you.”

“You’re right. And...if you wanted space, I’d understand. I expected you to be going back home sometime soon, anyway.”

Sakura had decided to go home. He felt that he’d avoided problems there for long enough. He had a life he had to get back to. And he had to get back to his father as well.

“I may be back at some point this week. If not, I’ll see you at school.” He reached over and grasped Sasuke’s hand, squeezing gently. The contact seemed to calm him a bit. “I appreciate you telling me the truth. We’ll talk about this more later.”

  
  


“Aw, he was fucking adorable,” Deidara smirked as his head rested in Sasori’s lap. He was almost sorry to see him go. After all, Sakura living in the Uchiha house meant the blonde could see him whenever he wanted. “I knew I should have put a leash on that one.”

“Shut up,” Sasuke snapped. “I’m sick of your mouth.”

“Be nice, little brother,” Itachi said as he reentered the living room where they were all hanging out. “We know you’re frustrated, but there’s no need for rudeness.”

“That’s right, Sasuke,” Deidara purred. “Do you need a little  _ release _ ?”

“I don’t need anything from you.” Sasuke was pissed off. He needed a way to get back at Ino for this. But how? “I need someone to help me put that little prick in his place.”

“Who?” Sasori questioned.

“Ino Yamanaka,” Itachi revealed. “Seems he’s the one who told Sakura everything. Not that I’m surprised.”

“Oh, that one is cute, too,” Deidara said. Then again, he was attracted to most people.

“You’re not making anything better.” Sasuke poured himself a glass of bourbon and mulled over his options in his head. This wasn't going to be easy. Now that Sakura knew the truth, his guard would definitely be up around Sasuke. “I need to go think.”

  
  


Sakura felt weird being home. Something was different with his dad and Ino. The two of them didn't argue or roll their eyes at each other like they usually did. Neither one of them search for the slightest hint of something offensive in whatever the other said. Even dinner with the two of them was...too perfect.

“Everything tastes great,” Ino said in a warm tone the boxer hardly recognized. What was up with them? What was different…?

“Thanks. I know you prefer spicier foods, but Sakura’s tongue is a little more sensitive than yours.” As soon as Tsunade said the words, the two boys exchanged a look before Ino looked back down at his food quickly.

“Alright, I can’t take this anymore. What’s going on here?” Sakura asked as he leaned back in his seat. “You two are acting weird.”

The two others looked between one another before the eldest of the three cleared his throat. Ino and Tsunade had talked about what they would say to Sakura if this came up. They hadn’t had sex since the first time, but that tension was still there. They were closer, now. And every touch--every glance between them was different than before. Tsunade tried to tell Ino that they couldn’t hide it from Sakura. That as much as he wanted to, his son was smart enough to pick up on something like this. He hated the idea of having to tell him this--he knew he wouldn’t take it well. But Ino seemed to reject the idea of telling him even more.

Of course, Tsunade knew it was because the blonde had feelings for Sakura.

“We’ve just learned to get along better,” Tsunade told him. “We had to, if we really wanted you to come back.”

He was treading lightly. They’d talked about refraining from lying to him, but was hard to tell the whole truth when his eyes were staring so deeply into them both. They held their breath, waiting for him to give a reply. That’s when he chuckled, shaking his head.

“I’ve been wanting you two to get along for years,” he told them. “And all it took was me leaving?”

“It’s not like that, Sakura,” Ino said.

“I’m not saying that in a bad way,” he said. “It’s just...funny. I thought I tried everything, but I guess I just had to get out of the way for you two.”

“Ino and I have come to see eye to eye,” Tsunade said. “He’s even started doing his homework now--and not being a menace to society.”

“And old man Tsunade’s cut back on the booze,” Ino smirked, leaning against the table. “I think he’s down to about five a day.”

“You’re making me out to be a regular alcoholic, kid.”

“I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”

For a moment, Sakura thought they were slipping back into old habits. But after a closer look, he realizing it was more like...playful bickering. Something about it didn’t sit well with him. At first, he couldn’t put his finger on it. But then he realized...he was feeling left out.

The rest of dinner went by that way. Ino and Tsunade becoming a little too familiar with each other and Sakura fighting the urge to express some sort of discomfort with the situation. Afterwards, Tsunade gathered up their dishes and took them into the kitchen while the boys made moves to leave the table.

Sakura went to the stairs, briefly looking back to see Ino standing in the doorway of the living room with a puzzled look on his face. 

“What is it?” Sakura asked him.

“Are you going upstairs already?” He asked the question as if it wasn’t their thing. They spent the majority of their time in Sakura’s bedroom, it was the only place Tsunade couldn’t really dictate their actions.

“Yes?” Sakura shrugged one shoulder. “I have homework to do.”

“Why not do it down here?” He questioned.

Weird. Sakura studied his friend for a moment before his eyes drifted towards the kitchen where he could her his dad humming to himself.

“What’s going on?” Sakura leaned against the wall on one hand. “You both are acting weird.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t bullshit me, man.” 

Ino smirked at that. “C’mon, I told you I wouldn’t lie to you anymore.”

“So, don’t, then!” Sakura raised his voice enough for Tsunade to hear, prompting the older man to stop what he was doing and poke his head out. “I want to know what’s going on here. What are you guys keeping from me?”

Ino looked back at Tsunade, searching for a way to convey that he needed help.

“Why don’t you boys just go upstairs? Spend some time together.” It was directed at Ino, for obvious reasons. No need to have Sakura being suspicious so early--the last thing they wanted was for him to have his guard up when they dropped such a delicate matter into his lap.

“Sure, yeah--call us if you need anything.” And with that, Ino followed Sakura up to his room. 

  
  


“You don’t like me and I don’t like you.”

“Well, that’s a good way to start a conversation.” Naruto was about to turn on his heel and leave when Sasuke rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly.

“But we’ve got a mutual enemy at this point.” Those were the words that made Naruto look him in the eye finally. They’d agreed to meet up at school behind the gym in the morning. No one was even on that side of school during that time of day and the last thing Sasuke needed was someone seeing them do this. 

“Yeah?” Naruto arched an eyebrow. “And what makes you think I hate Ino more than I hate you?”

“Because he’s probably filling his head with more lies. He’s the one who started all of this.”

“The poll started this. None of us should have ever gotten involved.”

Sasuke shrugged. “We didn’t start the poll. We were just innocent pawns in this whole thing. Look, I like Sakura. And apparently, you do, too. Do you really want him to get all of his information from Ino Yamanaka?” 

Naruto scoffed. “He seemed to get enough information from you.”

“I never told him to hate you. Hell, I was the one who suggested he start speaking to you again. Why do you think I have you over so often?”

What? That didn’t sound right to Naruto. Sasuke would never do that. He was the most selfish guy Naruto knew.

“I’m not a monster,” Sasuke smirked. “You guys were cute. You were cute.”

Now, that was definitely unexpected. Naruto raised his eyebrows, taking a step away from Sasuke. “What did you call me?”

Sasuke sighed. “Don’t make me repeat it.”

“No, no, what are you saying, Sasuke?”

This was part of the plan. Sasuke pulled his best look, peaking his eyes at the blonde as he stepped towards him. “I’m saying I want to be able to see Sakura. And I want you to be able to see him, too. If you’d like that?”

Naruto’s jaw dropped. “I….what?”

“It’s called being polyamorous, idiot,” he rolled his eyes. “I figured if we both like the same dude, maybe we could work it out someway like that?”

“You’re kidding.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

Sasuke was almost certain that Naruto would go along with this. After all, it didn’t seem to take a lot to charm the idiot. The only reason Naruto didn’t like him now was because Sasuke never really cared about putting in the effort. But if he was going to do everything he needed, he’d have to get Naruto under his thumb.

He learned that lesson last year with Haku. Zabuza nearly killed him, not that Naruto would be that kind of problem. If anything, Sasuke could probably take him down quick. But that wouldn’t help him with Sakura.

“Are...are you saying you’re into me?” Naruto was hesitant.

“I’m not saying I’m not.”

“I...don’t know what to say. I assumed you hated me.”

“I hated thinking I had competition. It was never anything against you. You’re actually pretty cool, I like being around you. It’s why I’m proposing this. You don’t have to give me an answer now. I’ll wait. But think on it, yeah?”

Naruto only nodded.

“Cool, I’ll see you around.” Sasuke took this moment to test whether not his plan was taking effect. 

He leaned forward boldly and placed a soft kiss to Naruto’s lips before stepping past him. The blonde reacted the way he’d hoped, causing Sasuke to smirk as he walked off.

He’d already gotten his answer.

  
  


“So, what’s the point in stringing Naruto along? Wasn’t he the one you were trying to get back at?” Deidara questioned.

“Sasuke doesn’t care about the target,” Itachi interrupted the conversation as he entered the living room. “He just cares to come out on top. Don’t you, little brother?”

“Shut up,” Sasuke hissed.

“This just seems all sorts of fucked up, now. What’s your endgame in all of this, Sasuke?” Deidara groaned.

“He wants to gain control,” Itachi said. He knew his little brother better than anyone else. He knew this wasn’t about any one person unless that person was Sasuke himself. He wanted to get all of these boys under his thumb. That was just his nature--he took pleasure in toying with people. “So, how will you go about charming Naruto?”

Sasuke sighed. “That won’t take much. He’s attention starved. All I have to do is give him a few nice words and his pants will fall off.” He smiled at the thought of getting Naruto’s clothes off. If he were able to fuck the irritating blonde in the process of all of this, that’d just be extra points on his part.

“You’re such a little deviant,” Deidara giggled. “It’s fun to watch. It almost makes me want to try it out myself.”

“Don’t get too caught up in this, little brother,” Itachi warned. “Things like this have a habit of--spilling out of your hands, so to speak.”

“I know what I’m doing.” Sasuke wasn’t an idiot. He knew that a wrong step could set him back several pegs. But he was confident enough in his ability to charm just about anyone and keep this whole thing up. “Just you watch.”


End file.
